Paing of SA film pioneer Jans Rautenbach

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Passing of SA film pioneer Jans Rautenbach --

Thu, 10 Nov 2016 13:28

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Last week, on 2 November 2016, a pioneering filmmaker in South, Jans Rautenbach, the director of such controversial films as Die Kandidaat, Katrina and the frightening Jannie Totsiens, passed away at the age of 80.

Born in Boksburg in 1936, Jans Rautenbach was 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 beer swilling bar patron in Emil Nofal s Kimberley Jim. He also worked as a production manager on the Jamie Uys film Dingaka.

When Emil Nofal and Jamie Uys parted company, Emil Nofal started his own production company with Jans Rautenbach and thus began what could be considered South Africa s golden age of cinema, with the partners releasing King Hendrik (1965) a gentle political comedy in which a small town in South Africa discovers that it can legally declare itself independent from the rest of the country and does so Wild Season (1967) a human drama set against the backdrop of the sea and all its perils for those who make a living on the waters; Die Kandidaat (The Candidate) (1968) a harrowing look at the stifled nature of South Africa and South African politics as an organization based on the feared Afrikaner Broederbond goes about its daily business, 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 horrific racial policies under Apartheid and also a film which was applauded (instead of being vilified) by those who instituted those exact same unjust laws. Rautenbach also produced and directed the eerie Jannie Totsiens (Johnny Farewell) , a harrowing tale set in a lunatic asylum which is further disturbed by the arrival of a person of discord, namely a catatonic mathematics professor. This production is now known to have been South Africa s first horror genre film and also its first black comedy as there are dashes of humour in an otherwise terrifying tale.

Among Rautenbach s other notable films are Ongewenste Vreemdeling (The Unwanted Stranger) which was based on the popular Springbok Radio serial, the experimental film Eendag Op n Reendag, (Once Upon A Rainy Day) the well-received doppelganger comedy Blink Stefaans (Double Crazy) and the powerful racial drama Broer Matie. (Brother Matie) During production of the latter film, the apartheid laws were broken time and time again, especially the ludicrous one that stated that people of differing race could not be in the same shot or scene together , rules which Rautenbach continually ignored, even to the point of getting the film s star, Simon Bruinders into the premiere of his film. Rautenbach also directed Winners 2 the sequel to the 1972 worldwide box office success The Winners and the German South African co-production No One Cries Forever.

Rautenbach s final film was Abraham, the true, tragic and emotional story of the poverty stricken Abraham Soetland who reached out to Rautenbach as a mentor and friend and whose artworks still adorn Rautenbach s home in the Western Cape.

Source: National Film, Video and Sound Archives

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