DUMI GUMBI

Dumi Gumbi has had a long and illustrious career in Film and Television, having studied Economics and Filmmaking in Boston, Massachusetts USA, and having graduated top of his class from Wits Business School in 2009 with a Certificate in their Management Advanced Programme.

Dumi was one of the first black producers to rejuvenate the animation industry in South Africa late in the 2000’s, and has contributed towards the growth of this art form in the country having trained animators in South Africa. His first feature film Gog’ Helen, premiered at the Durban International Film Festival Main Competition in 2012, had its American Premiere at the Pan-African Film Festival (PAFF) in 2013. Gog’ Helen was also nominated in the 2014 SAFTA’s (South African Film and Television Awards) in two categories, namely Best Music Composition and Best Editing, and was the springboard of Dumi’s successful career as Film Producer and Creative Consultant. Dumi followed this success in 2014 by producing Die Spook van Uniondale, one of the first Afrikaans horror films to have been produced in democratic South Africa. Dumi’s vision and passion for South African stories lead to him also producing the short film Vryslag in 2015, which was a winner at the Silwerskerm Fees in the category of Best Short film, and was also nominated for a SAFTA as one of the three Best Short Films in the country in 2016. Not only that, Dora’s Peace, which was his next film project was one of most critically acclaimed South African Films, was winner at the Jozi Film Festival in 2016, was official selection at the Boston Internal Film Festival in 2017, as well as official selection Beijing International Film Festival in the same year.

Dumi’s keen business mind, and eye for successful film products lead to him producing Mrs Right Guy which was released in 2016, and was one of South Africa’s top grossing films in that year. He then went on to become a director of The Ergo Company through which he intends is to build a content studio with a global reach, focused on strictly commercial, genre driven South African Feature Films, generated through a customer value proposition (CVP) in order to monetize the creative economy. The company continues to benefit from Dumi’s business acumen and stellar track record for producing critically acclaimed films and has under this stable Five Fingers of Marseilles, released in 2018 and was the official selection at both the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as BUSAN in the year 2017. Dumi’s commitment to creating projects with a global reach saw him managing an international coproduction with the film Love by Chance under the Ergo Film Slate, which was released in 2017. Dumi’s pioneering spirit when it comes to South African Film Products lead to him producing The Tokoloshe, which is a quintessential South African Horror Film aimed at the black premium market, once again released to critical acclaim as the official selection, a film that has been accepted and screened at BIFAN film festival, FrightFest, Lund, Sitges, RazorReel, and MOTELx.

Dumi has an impressive film slate of up to 25 film projects in various stages of production that he manages under the banner of The Ergo Company like Love Lives Here which was released in 2019 and the company has a couple of films in post-production, which will be released in 2021. The studio is in production on Not Quite Norman, which is his first 3D, CG animation film produced under his company The Ergo Company and is due for release in 2022 to name just a few. Dumi is committed to creating a sustainable film and television industry, and under The Ergo Company has launched a Young Director’s Programme towards this endeavour contributing his years of experience, business acumen, and knowledge of the industry to train and empower others. The fruits of which are that two short films under this project went into production in October 2018. Dumi continues to be an active member of the industry as an Executive Producer and Creative Consultant.