Keitumetsi Qhali also known as Director Kit is a South African Director, Writer and Producer. Qhali hails from the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, is a multi-award winning director. She works in long and short form films and videos and to date, has directed over 29 videos.
Her early work dates back to 2014 when she directed an African hit music video Rands and Nairas by Nigerian artist Emmy Gee featuring AB Crazy & Dj Dimplez. The music video won the Best Music Video of the Year award at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and was nominated for the Channel O music video award, for the most gifted music video of the year and Most Gifted Newcomer. Qhali bagged all these wins at the age of 24. Later, she was signed to the prestigious Darling Films production company as their first black female commercials director.
In 2018, she directed a short film titled The Initiate which was bought by Showmax. She was nominated for a Loerie Award for her fashion film Winter Blues for the Edgars winter campaign. She also won a SAFTA (South African Film and Television Awards) for Best Factual Educational Documentary Programme for her short film titled KICK IT.
When it comes to stories, Qhali loves layered stories that are character-driven and full of emotion. History, African mythology and science fiction all interest her. Qhali’s dream film would be a fantasy or real-life character story set in pre-colonial South Africa.
As a leading filmmaker in her industry, Qhali is one of the few Black, female directors working in the commercial space, and this creates a lot of pressure. Qhali has had to be clear and confident with her decisions and career path.
Without much advice from people in the industry, Qhali relied on her family. Her mother, particularly, has supported her from the beginning, and her father got onboard when she started working.