Junaid Ahmed is a graduate of the University of Durban-Westville where he read for a BA (Honours) degree in Drama. During the past twelve years, Ahmed has been specialising in film and television production - writing, producing and directing documentaries and short films. He has produced and directed productions for Channel 4 (United Kingdom), the Discovery Channel, ARTE (Europe), SABC and e-tv.

His films have been featured in many international film festivals and he has also received many national and international awards for these productions. Iqakamba - Hard Ball, which he wrote and directed, won the Best Sports Documentary in Milan in 1996 and Lucky, a short film that he produced, was nominated for the 2006 BAFTA Best Short Film Award and subsequently won the Best Short Film Award at more than 30 international film festivals in 2006.

Ahmed’s latest project is the docu-drama, More Than Just A Game which he directed and co-wrote. More Than Just A Game

He is the past Secretary General of the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW) and represented the organization at many conferences on the continent, North and South America, Europe and Asia. Ahmed has edited poetry anthologies and his articles on arts and culture related issues have been published in a number of international publications.

He has also served on a number of advisory committees and executive boards in both the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations, initiated and co-coordinated arts and culture events, conferences and workshops both internationally and in South Africa. He was a consultant to the Democratic Media Trust and past executive member of the Independent Producer’s Organization (IPO). During 1996 to 1998, he was appointed by the South African Minister of Arts and Culture onto the National Interim Film Fund Board-now the National Film and Video Foundation.

Over the past twenty years Ahmed has produced, workshopped, acted in and directed many theatre productions at various community venues, the Asoka Theatre, the Market Theatre and at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. His latest production, which he wrote and directed, was the acclaimed musical, BOMBAY CRUSH.

Ahmed has also co-ordinated and directed many national and international special events. These include being the South African co-ordinator of one of the biggest arts and cultural festivals held outside South Africa – the Zabalaza Festival which was held in London in 1990, a multi-cultural stage show for the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Durban Summit in 2001 and the arts and culture programme for President Thabo Mbeki’s official state visit to India in 2003.

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