AFDA, The School for the Creative Economy is a South African private Higher Education institution that offers higher certificates, undergraduate, and postgraduate degrees in film, television, performance, business innovation and technology, radio and podcasting, and creative writing. Established in 1994 it has four campuses located in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth.
In 2021, 2022, and 2023 AFDA was ranked among the top 5 most innovative South African educational institutions in the creative brand space in The Loeries Official Rankings.
AFDA has won the Best Student Film award at the South African Film and Television Awards ten times and in 2006 became the first, and to this day, only African film to have won the annual Student Academy Awards (SAA) presented by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
At the most recent 2024 SAFTAs, AFDA students and alumni won 17 awards in seven different categories.
AFDA almuni include Nosipho Dumisa (director, Blood & Water, Nommer37); Muneera Sallies, (director; Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s submission to the 2025 Oscars for Best International Film); Daniel Etim-Effiong (Nollywood actor, Castle & Castle, Blood Sisters, A Weekend to Forget); Jenna Bass (Good Madam, Flatland); and Vuyo Dabula (actor, Queen Sono, Five Fingers for Marseille).