AFDA 2017 Live Performance school graduate, Luntu Masiza, won the Setkani/Encounter Theatre Director’s Special Award for his performance in the theatre play, The Island, directed by AFDA Cape Town Live Performance School lecturer Chris Weare.  Only five awards were made at this festival in which 12 highly reputable international schools participated: actor [SA] actress [Israel], scenographer [Czech Republic], costume design [Germany] and new writing [Scotland]. The award was given to Luntu for his personal acting statement and significant ethic insight into totalitarian tendencies and racism within the society in broader context expressed in the synergy with his acting partner and fellow AFDA alumni Siya Mayola.

The Setkani/Encounter in the Czech Republic is an annual event that takes place in Brno. The 28th edition of the festival was held from the 17th of April to the 21th of April 2018. The festival focuses on talented young performers from art academies and universities from all around the world. It gives them the opportunity to meet their student colleagues and also meet the professionals from the international theatre field.

They can inspire and get to know each other during the festival and it is one of the greatest benefits of the project. The festival has changed a lot during the 27 years of its existence. The most significant change has been the transformation from a competitive event to a non-competitive one. This change supported the main idea of the festival: to create a place for meeting, inspiration and discussion between theatre performers and artists.