JURY 2026
Meet jury member MPHO TWALA - Executive Producer at Fam Films, South Africa.
Swipe to learn more about Mpho, and keep an eye out on the YDA website as we will soon have the entire 2026 jury revealed!
One day, what you once wanted will feel ordinary and you’ll see the path made sense in its own way.
It doesn’t take everything
just have enough courage to keep going
enough care to stay open
and enough quiet belief to not give up
That’s what carries you, fam.
#twalamassif
Thirty years ago, I met a 17-year-old girl with a light in her eyes that I didn’t yet understand, that I’d spend a lifetime trying to name. Today, on your birthday, I finally know what it was: it was the beginning of my courage.
I’ve been thinking about what gratitude means. It’s not a gentle habit or just a way to feel better. For me, loving you has been a quiet act of courage, because it asks me, every single day, to pause and truly see what is in front of me. Not to endure the years, but to embrace them. All the laughs, every challenge weathered, every ordinary Tuesday morning with coffee and tired smiles. So here is my reason for gratitude: You. Not the idea of you, not the memory of that 17-year-old girl (though I treasure her), but you, here & now. Because when I look at you, I see the woman who turned my waiting into arrival.
Happy birthday @mrs_nanditwala .
Thank you for 30 years of enough and everything.
What we’ve shared was never the source of our love, but it is where our love chose to live. Our life together has always been a choice, presence rather than possession.
We are human. We need closeness, touch, and the quiet safety of shared time. But we are also two whole people, walking side by side, not holding one another captive. You were never mine to own, and I was never yours. We were each other’s to know, to grow with, to witness honestly.
Along the way, I’ve learned that love on its own doesn’t carry a lifetime. What does is the willingness to endure the difficult, unpolished seasons together, to stay present when loving isn’t easy.
This love hasn’t defined our worth; it has reflected it, again and again.
And twenty-five years in, I understand this deeply: love leaves room to breathe. Because love was never meant to confine us. It was meant to hold us, and to keep choosing us.
Happy 25th anniversary, sthandwa, aka @mrs_nanditwala
Happiest 16th Birthday, @lukhanyotwala_ ‘the GOATED’.
You arrived like the universe said, “Let’s have some fun with this one.” Part philosopher, part troublemaker, part barefoot explorer of life, with a laugh that disarms adults and a spirit that refuses to stay in its lane. and boy do you refuse to stay in that lane - an absolute marvel actually..
You’ve got that rare kind of magic that can’t be taught or tamed. Grootman energy with Gen-X new jokes. You read the room, bend the rules, and somehow make the world feel bigger just by being in it.
Being your father is both a joy and an ongoing lesson in humility. I’m deeply proud.. not because of what you’ll do one day, but because of who you already are: kind, curious, wildly funny, and unmistakably you (my baby boy).
Thank you for choosing me in this lifetime. The universe did well with you. I did even better getting you as my son. The boy is slowly becoming the man.. (possibly the goat) 😅
No one gets through this life alone. Not without the ones who show up before there’s anything to celebrate. Who steady you when you’re tired, remind you who you are, and have your back without hesitation.
We love the idea of being self-made but the truth is quieter: nothing meaningful happens without your people. Without the late nights, shared sacrifices, and the utmost belief when the road isn’t clear.
No win is ever yours alone. It belongs to those who always stay, who believe, who never need credit. When you see that, gratitude replaces ego, and success becomes shared.
Without them, it’s not possible. I give thanks always for my brothers. @mrtwala1 & @glennzitolight
I love days when it feels easy to find beauty in everything..
When the world softens just enough to let the meaning rise to the surface, when even the ordinary carries a quiet glow. On those days, nothing feels rushed or wasted; the light hits differently, conversations linger longer, and gratitude arrives without effort. It’s as if life is gently reminding me that beauty was never scarce, only sometimes hidden by weight and worry. In those moments, I feel more present, more forgiving, more alive… rooted in the simple truth that being here, feeling deeply, and noticing it all, is its own kind of grace.
#twalamassif
There’s something sacred about friendships that don’t just pass through your life, but build it instead. The kind that slowly turn into family. The kind that stay.
Community matters. The people around you should inspire you… yes
… push you to grow, challenge your thinking, call you higher. But they should also move you. Inside. In the soft places. The places where joy lives. Where laughter loosens time. Where you forget the world for a moment, not because you’re avoiding responsibility, but because you’re with it.
The best communities teach you as much as you teach them. They make you feel lighter. Giddy, even. They remind you that life is meant to be shared, that memories are a form of wealth, and that love doesn’t always announce itself loudly, sometimes it just shows up, again and again.
That’s abundance.
Here’s to more time. More memories.
Thank you,
Obare, Anna, Ellen, Zion, and Zuri 🤍
#twalamassif
As this year comes to an end, we can name it for what it was, difficult, stretching, and at times heavy. And still, we made it through. Not untouched, but still standing (10 toes strong). We kept showing up in the ways we could, even when it wasn’t pretty or easy. That matters. This season asked a lot of us, and we answered in our own time. So as we step forward, let it be with the quiet knowing that we are worthy of what comes next. We’ve earned our breath.
We deserve the next chapter, fam.
Blessings for 2026
*one of my most favoured pics from 2025..*
📸: @gee_msft
