The Faculty of Arts and Design are hosting a Public Lecture by South African renowned film producer and businessman, Dr Anant Singh. He will deliver his presentation titled: Speaking Out And Creating An Industry, When None Existed, at the Durban Of Technology (DUT) Courtyard Theatre, Ritson Campus, on Friday, 22 March 2019, from 2pm to 3pm.
Born and raised in Durban, Dr Singh began his film career at 18 years when he left his studies at the University of Durban – Westville to purchase a 16mm film rental store. He expanded his business into video distribution, forming Videovision Entertainment and then progressed into film production in 1986 with a Place of Weeping, the first anti-apartheid film to be made entirely in South Africa.
Anant Singh is acknowledged as South Africa’s leading film producer, and has produced more than 80 films, including the Academy Award nominated films: Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom and Yesterday; as well as notable films such as The first Grader, Red Dust, Cry, The Beloved Country, Sarafina, Remember, Paljas and Shepherds and Butchers.
Dr Singh is currently CEO and chairman of the Videovision Entertainment Group; he is the chair of Cape Town Film Studios, the state-of-the-art film studio facility in Cape Town; he co-chairs the Cape Town Metropolitan radio station, Smile 90.4FM and the luxury, high rise residential development The Pearls of Umhlanga.
He was appointed to the Board of Governors for Media and Entertainment of the World Economic Forum in recognition of his expertise in the industry; he served on the board of the Los Angeles-based Artists for a New South Africa; the Nelson Mandela 46664 AIDS Awareness Initiative and served two terms on the boards of Brand South Africa and South African Tourism.
He also serves on the board of the Victor Daitz Foundation, a South African charitable trust which contributes R20 million per annum to worthy causes in the KwaZulu – Natal province. In August 2016, Dr Singh was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 129th Session of the IOC in Rio de Janeiro.
Besides his film and business career, Dr Singh was also conferred with an honorary doctorate at the Durban University of Technology’s Fred Crookes Sports Centre, Steve Biko Campus, on 03 September 2014. He has also received honorary doctorates from other universities such as UDW (now University of KwaZulu – Natal) and the University of Port Elizabeth.
The South African Film Industry has honoured him for his significant contribution to the advancement of the industry with the inaugural Golden Horn Award for Outstanding Contributor at the first South African Film and Television Awards in October 2006; and the inaugural Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 from the KwaZulu – Natal Film Commission in honour of his contribution to raising the profile of the film industry in the KwaZulu – Natal province and South Africa.
Pictured: Dr Anant Singh
Waheeda Peters
