US-based Kenyan filmmaker Judy Kibinge has been invited to join the Oscars Academy’s class of 2017.

Judy is a writer and director and her debut film Dangerous Affair (2002) won the overall award at the 2003 Zanzibar Film Festival and she won Best Director at the 2009 Kalasha Awards for her film Killer Necklace (2008). 

Other films she has worked on include Project Daddy, Something Necessary and documentaries such as Wagalla – The Story of a Massacre and Headlines in History. She is also the founder of DocuBox, a documentary film fund for African filmmakers to help them produce and distribute their film.

It is the members of the academy that decide which movies and individuals win an Oscar Award. The Oscars Academy membership is by invitation only and currently has 7,000 members worldwide. This year’s class has 774 new members from 57 countries.