Credit: Rijasolo
Credit: Jo Munnik
Credit: Jo Munnik
Credit: Jo Munnik
Credit: Jo Munnik
Credit: Jo Munnik
About
Shaun Swingler is a South African multi-award winning director of photography based between South Africa and the United Kingdom, specialising in documentary and branded work. Shaun's documentary work has focused on the intersections between security, illicit trades, organised crime, and the environment, predominantly across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
In Shaun’s twelve-year career, stories have included the ongoing drug war in the Philippines, earthquake rescue in Turkey and north-west Syria, shark fishing in Congo-Brazzaville, political assassinations, vigilantism, and the illegal firearm trade in South Africa, Al-Shabaab deradicalisation in Mogadishu, the abalone trade on South Africa's Western Cape coast, wildlife trafficking in the DRC, the heroin trade in Kenya, transactional sex in Lake Malawi’s fishing communities, rebuilding efforts in Gaza, health stories in conflict-hit Central Mozambique, and a coup in Zimbabwe among many others.
For this work, Shaun has received numerous awards and accolades, most notably a South African Film and Television Award and a CNN Africa Journalist Award. Shaun's work has appeared in many international festivals and exhibitions as well as on platforms such as HBO, National Geographic, SHOWTIME, VICE News, CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, as well as working on branded campaigns for organisations such as Uniqlo, WWF, Oxfam, QuickBooks and De Beers.
Shaun is also the co-author of a best-selling South African true crime book, and his feature writing and photography has been published in Rolling Stone SA, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Harper's Magazine, and VICE.
Throughout Shaun's career, he has endeavoured to provide a nuanced, empathetic, and sensitive eye to complex and challenging stories, with the aim to create beautiful and engaging work in high pressure situations that further contributes to our understanding of the world around us.
BAFTA Connect member
HEFAT Accredited
Member of the Documentary Cinematographer’s Alliance and The Video Consortium
Awards
2021 | Encounters International Documentary Festival | SA Shorts Special Mention - Trade Secrets
2018 | South African Film and Television Award | Best Short Documentary - Nanlaban
2018 | South African Independent Film Festival | Best Documentary - Nanlaban
2017 | Ster-Kinekor Encounters Youth Jury Award | Best Short Documentary - Nanlaban
2016 | Vodacom Journalist of the Year regional co-winner |
2016 | CNN Multichoice Africa Journalist Award co-winner |
Festivals
2021 | Encounters Documentary Festival - Special Mention, Trade Secrets
2020 | Encounters Documentary Festival - Official Selection, The Race
2020 | Films For Forest - Official Selection, Back Into the Wild
2020 | African Film Festival New Zealand - Official Selection, Back Into the Wild
2019 | The Jozi Film Festival - Finalist, Bearing Witness
2018 | Singapore Eco Film Festival - Official Selection, Empty Shells
2018 | Los Angeles CineFest - Official Selection, Bearing Witness
2018 | Los Angeles CineFest - Official Selection, Nanlaban
2017 | Rapid Lion South African International Film Festival - Official Selection, Nanlaban
2017 | Encounters Documentary Festival - Winner, Nanlaban
2017 | South African Independent Film Fest - Winner, Nanlaban
Books
2013 Love is War: The Modimolle Monster | co-authored with Karyn Maughan. Jacana Media.
Exhibitions
2018 Democracy - The Future Starts Here | V&A Museum, London
2014 UnPublished | YoungBlood Gallery, Cape Town
Press
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/07/02/cape-town-photographers-south-africa-coronavirus-ia-spc.cnn
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-10-26-making-of-a-mob-justice-isnt-black-and-white/
https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2017-06-19-top-award-for-alumrsquos-short-film-on-philippines-drug-war
https://ijnet.org/en/story/journalist-month-shaun-swingler
https://www.news24.com/channel/TV/News/sa-journos-shine-at-cnn-multichoice-african-journalist-awards-2016-20161016
https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/07/18/cnn-multichoice-african-journalist-2016-finalists-announced/
Contact
shaunswingler (at) gmail (dot) com
+44 79 847 61909