Lungelo Kuzwayo is the founder of Cosi Productions. Mr. Kuzwayo is a South African writer/director who wants to share stories that contextualize and challenge simplistic narratives of a complex world. As the gifted Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie said: “Stories matter, many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.” 

Lungelo wrote and directed over a dozen short films, 2 short documentaries and a multi-camera TV music program. His latest short film “The Note” was nominated for best screenplay and best film at the 2020 Johannesburg 48-hour Film Festival, where it won the “Audience Award” for best film. The project is being entered into the local and international film circuit. Lungelo also wrote and directed “Sawubona” which screened in 5 continents and won awards, including multiple “Best Short Film” honors. He was a production assistant for an Emmy award winning documentary about Chicago called “Dusable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis”, and for the National Geographic documentary “Inside Hurricane Katrina”, about New Orleans’ greatest flood. 

Lungelo is the head of film directing at AFDA, a university in Johannesburg. He got his MFA in Film Directing at Columbia College Chicago. He is currently shopping around his first feature film, which is an African, magic realism thriller about a shapeshifting creature that trades wealth for blood sacrifice.