"One of South Africa's most daring new voices" - Variety

Meekaaeel Adam made history at Fantasporto as the first South African filmmaker to compete in the festival's 45-year run, winning the Jury Award for his debut feature THE TREK (2026), in which he took on dual roles as director and DOP.

Childhood trips to the local drive-in in Durban inspired his love for cinema, and by the time he graduated from the University of Cape Town with a triple-major in Film and Media Studies, he was already working on professional sets.

His debut as DOP on the South African political thriller THE LAST VICTIMS (2019) announced him as a talent to watch, picking up over 20 awards at festivals worldwide and earning him a RapidLion nomination for Best Cinematography.

Meekaaeel's narrative, documentary, and commercial work has aired on MNet, Kyknet, SABC, Showmax, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. His mastery of the technical and creative sides of filmmaking allows him to work as both cinematographer and director-DOP, as on Netflix's STORIES OF A GENERATION WITH POPE FRANCIS (2022).

Meekaaeel has a U.S. B1/B2 visa and is represented as a Director of Photography by Exposure (South Africa).