Petrus van Staden is a South African filmmaker based in New York City.

In 2019 he co-founded Vanishing Elephant with Tebogo Malebogo driven by a desire to find a way to tell meaningful stories. Through the company he produced and edited "Mthunzi" (2019; Locarno, SXSW, Special Jury Mention at AFI Fest) which can be watched on First Look Media's streaming service Topic. Their second production, "Heaven Reaches Down to Earth" (2020; New Directors New films, Clermont- Ferrand, Palm Springs ShortFest), was released on Mubi in January 2022, and received a Vimeo Staff Pick in June of that same year. 

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In 2021 he wrote and directed "Let's Do This Again Sometime"which premiered at the Festival du Cinema Nouveau in Montreal.

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He is passionate about diversity, collaboration and finding ways to tell and uplift marginalised stories as well as exploring ways how to tell those stories authentically and just. Apart from the selections mentioned above, he has been part of productions that have been selected to Sundance, IFFR, Oberhausen, Durban, and New Directors New Films - bringing professionalism and quality storytelling to everything he involves himself with.

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He has recently finished post-production on a Tanzanian ciGogo film for UNESCO & Netflix.