SOUTHERN AFRICAN DOCUMENTARY FILM-MAKING
Professor Ian Glenn, Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Townn
Tuesday 28–Thursday 30 January 7.00 pm COURSE FEES R330; Staff and students R165
This course will explore how wildlife documentary filmmakers in southern Africa came to re-shape and dominate the field. It will move from the making of Cherry Kearton’s Dassan (1930) to Craig Foster’s My Octopus Teacher (2020), looking at what helped local filmmakers triumph.
The first lecture examines why filmmakers find South Africa in general, and the Kruger Park in particular, a difficult place to film. It was the rise of animal capture methods and wildlife scientists that enabled British and American film crews, and then South Africans, to start successful filming locally. The lecture concludes with the success of Jamie Uys’s Beautiful People and Norma Foster’s series, Wildlife in Crisis.
In the mid-1970s, southern Africans, particularly people linked to Michael Rosenberg’s production company, started winning international awards and developing a distinctive vision, based on lengthy time in the field. The second lecture examines particularly the role of the Bartletts, Hugheses and Jouberts, couples whose films were among the most successful wildlife documentaries ever made, along with major films by Richard Goss and Kim Wolhuter.
The final lecture examines how the success of lodges in the Sabi Sand and the habituating of leopards made this area an important locale for wildlife films. It looks at the role of John Varty and Elmon Mhlongo, Kim Wolhuter and others, and the ways in which these traditions allowed for the making of the live-time wildlife programme, WildEarth (also known as Safari Live). It will conclude with a look at the Foster brothers and other important recent figures.
Lecture titles
- From 1930 to the 1970s
- The golden era
- Making the bush work
Recommended reading and viewing
Glenn, I. 2022. Wildlife Documentaries in Southern Africa: From East to South. London: Anthem Press. (Available digitally through Kindle while paper copies will be provided through Exclusive Books at the Summer School).
Participants are advised to watch as many wildlife documentaries from the relevant filmmakers as possible. Many of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom films are online while other films, or excerpts from them, are on YouTube or available at a fee through Vimeo.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/performance.aspx?itemid=1554948111