Julia Jansch

Julia Jansch is an award-winning filmmaker from South Africa and director of Dears in the Headlights (Mountainfilm 2025). Her work has been showcased by Disney+, MTV Docs and The New Yorker. Her artistic mission is to uncover what makes us most human, while also exploring the inner wounds that reveal where we can transform and evolve. Jansch began her career working in development at FremantleMedia (UK, LA) and RadicalMedia (NY). After a decade of experience in the film and television industry, she founded Southern Point Pictures. Her documentary short, My Father the Mover, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 and was subsequently acquired by MTV Studios. In 2022, Jansch’s film Elsa premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was later acquired by The New Yorker. She holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and philosophy from the University of Stellenbosch, a master's in international relations and an MBA, both from the University of Oxford. She also holds a filmmaking diploma from The New York Film Academy.