Jans Rautenbach

Born in Boksburg in 1936, Jans Rautenbach is arguably South Africa's most celebrated and, at the same time, most controversial filmmaker. He began his career in the film industry working for Jamie Uys Film Productions and can be glimpsed as a bar patron in Emil Nofal's Kimberley Jim. When Emil Nofal and Jamie Uys parted company, Nofal started his own production company with Rautenbach and thus began what could be considered South Africa's golden age of cinema, with the partners releasing King Hendrik (1965), Wild Season (1967), Die Kandidaat (1968) and their most controversial and thought provoking feature Katrina (1969). The latter film is still considered to be a milestone in South African cinema - a searing examination of South Africa's unjust racial policies under Apartheid - and also a film which was applauded (instead of being vilified) by those who instituted those exact same unjust laws.