David Lister is a South African-born film and television director, now residing in Port Elizabeth. David Lister grew up on a farm in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. He trained as a painter and sculptor in Pretoria before being employed as a scene painter, set designer and head of the props department at the Performing Arts Council in Transvaal. After a brief period as a documentary cameraman at , he departed to the UK and studied at the London Film School 1972-1974. He then returned to South Africa to work as a director in the film and television industry.