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Shelley Barry  Biography

In 2003 Shelley was awarded a full scholarship from the Ford Foundation to study towards her Master of Fine Arts in Film in the United States. She graduated cum laude from Temple University in Philadelphia. Her films have screened at major festivals and events around the world and been acquired by public television in the States.

Recent awards include an Audre Lorde award for media, Distinguished Graduate Student Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Graduate schools and three Best film awards at international festivals in NYC, San Francisco and Philadelphia for her first film, an experimental documentary titled “Whole - A Trinity of Being” This film has also been awarded the Jury Citation Award at the Black Maria Film Festival in the USA and was selected to screen at The Cape Town World Cinema Festival and the Encounters Documentary film festival in South Africa, along with several other screenings around the world and has been acquired by WYBE and MTV in the USA.

The film has also been selected to screen in the New York African Film Festival’s travelling showcase of contemporary African film.

The work-in-progress version of her thesis film, “Where we planted trees” was recently awarded “Best Documentary” at Temple University’s annual showcase of student films. This film was shot in her hometown of the Eastern Cape, which serves as her base.

Born and raised in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, Shelley Barry completed graduate studies in English and Drama at the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape. She has worked extensively as a disability rights activist, following a shooting in the Cape taxi wars of 1996 that resulted in her being a wheelchair user.

She worked most recently as the Media Manager in the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency in South Africa. She initially worked in disability politics in South Africa’s Parliament as the National Parliamentary Policy Co-ordinator for Disabled People South Africa, during the Presidency of Nelson Mandela.

Shelley is also a playwright, having written two plays that were performed in theatres in South Africa, namely “ Insignificant Others” (2000) and “En Route to bury Sara Baartman” (2003) both dealing in some way with oppression faced by women.

She was one of the editors and featured writer of South Africa’s first multi-genre anthology of black women’s writing, “Ink@Boiling Point: A selection of 21st century black women’s writing from the southern tip of Africa” first published by WEAVE in 2000. Her poetry is also featured in a South African anthology, namely “Lovely beyond any singing” published by Doublestorey in 2006.

In the area of visual media, she has worked in television as a program compliance advisor for South Africa’s first independent television station, etv, where she was instrumental in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and disability through championing certain programming.

She completed short training in video, including a short course by acclaimed director Mira Nair and training by Deutsche Welle TV. She was based as an intern for a brief period with the BBC’s Disability Production Unit in London. She was appointed as a Chief Examiner of the South African Film and Publications Board. Shelley also served on the board of Mediaworks, a community media organization and she currently serves on the board of Children and Broadcasting Foundation for Africa. She is also an office bearer of an organization in South Africa: Art for Development, run by South Africa’s first black female feature filmmaker, Meganthrie Pillay.

Shelley is an active anti-gun lobbyist and recently addressed the United Nations in NYC.

She is currently in pre-production for her 2007 series of films, namely “New York/New Brighton”, “Canvas” and “cellphone” and is completing post production on video art pieces, namely “Str/oll”, “Umbilical Cord”, “Retrato/Portrait”, “Where are my heels?” and “Cry like the Loons”.

She initiated The Black Elephant Film Series in the Eastern Cape- a project that aims to provide alternative venues for the screening and distribution of independent film and video art.

The University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg has recently announced that Shelley has been selected as their Carnegie Fellow of 2007 in the TV and Film department.

She will be based there from July, working on new films and on the aesthetics of cinematography from the perspective of a wheelchair user.