PROFILE

I was born in Cape Town and left the country at the age of twenty three after a short career as a journalist, photographer and would-be filmmaker. I was a cub reporter on the Cape Argus, moved to The Star, worked for Jim Bailey’s Drum and Post, made a short fiction film and gave up on a documentary project in Soweto after a police bust confiscated the footage. Chris

I arrived in Paris with my partner and baby son, not speaking a word of French, and survived for two and a half years as a freelance photographer, before reluctantly moving to London, which we’d avoided for being too much like home. My first film for British television was Rhythm of Resistance, for LWT’s new arts programme, shot in South Africa in 1978 with a cover story of “ethnomusicology”!

Chris&Salif Over the following few years I returned secretly to shoot four documentaries, using my South African passport, working with my collaborator Peter Chappell, a gifted cameraman and editor, and helped by courageous journalist Nomavenda Mathiane and others. South Africa Belongs to Us attracted the most attention, and was credited with triggering the sanctions campaign in Germany. The apartheid regime caught up with me, cancelled my passport leaving me stateless in London, and banned me from returning for over a decade – which I took as a great accolade.

Westdeutsche Rundfunk in Cologne offered me the film of the exciting Kenyan novel Going Down River Road, but the Kenyan government refused me a visa because I was a South African. Zimbabwe welcomed me to make The House of Hunger, based on Dambudzo’s Marechera’s novel, and Harare became our second home through the 80s and 90s. Not A Bad Girl was my first film back in a liberated South Africa, and hanging with Brenda Fassie was the best way to re-connect! Now I divide my time between Cape Town and London.

FILMOGRAPHY

THE COUNTRY BETWEEN US
Feature in development, original script by Chris Austin and Gill Bond

The country is something we share - and something that divides us. A man is caught in a family web of emotional demands and guards a silent lie as past and present clash. An unpredictable drama unfolds as a subtle political allegory in contemporary South Africa.


SONGS FOR A HIP KING
A 50min pilot for a feature dramadoc financed by Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures

Donald Tshomela regales with stories and archive of his life as South Africa's finest cover singer and his hit vocal group in the 1950s . He planned to travel the country to retrieve traditional four part harmony songs for an orginial album to be arranged with big band backing by Abdullah Ibrahim, but sadly Don died before hitting the road and the production halted.


WHAT IT TAKES TO KEEP A YOUNG GIRL ALIVE
Feature drama in development, original script by Gill Bond and Chris Austin

A moving, funny and sad coming of age story about a 16-year-old girl in Durban in 1964. Selected as one of six performances from 1,700 submissions to the BFI Script Factory season, finance was committed by British Screen but halted in pre-production when South African backing collapsed - it is being revived!


NOT A BAD GIRL
Documentary feature for BBC TV

Brenda The life and work of Brenda Fassie, the most popular woman singer in the history of South African music.


"Illuminating... the story of an exceptional, uncompromising woman... this is more than the portrait of a singer: it's about a black woman who has made it in South Africa on her own terms." (Time Out, London)

"A memorable piece of documentary art... like the unforgettable Brother with Perfect Timing, Not A Bad Girl is a landmark in our cultural heritage." (The Star, Johannesburg)

"Austin's camera follows her but gradually becomes totally merged with the character... Austin shows an exceptional ability to dig into his character... what emerges is a complex image of a culture of paradoxes." (Ecrans d'Afrique, Paris)

WATCH NOT A BAD GIRL on Vimeo


KEITA! DESTINY OF A NOBLE OUTCAST
Feature documentary/drama for Island and BBC TV

salifFilmed in Mali, Paris and London, combining documentary, drama and performance, the life story of Salif Keita, one of Africa's most acclaimed singers with a uniquely haunting voice.

"Far and away the most atmospheric and considered film made on African music." (Time Out, London)

"A very beautiful new film from Chris Austin, one of the most interesting filmmakers in contemporary African cinema" (Manifesto, Rome)

Best Documentary Award, Southern African Film Festival and OAU Special Award Best Documentary

WATCH KEITA! DESTINY OF A NOBLE OUTCAST on Vimeo


A CHILD FROM THE SOUTH
Original Story and Script by Gill Bond and Chris Austin Feature drama for British Screen and Channel Four with Josette Simon, Alex Descas and Pete Postlethwaite

The story of a woman journalist revisiting the scene of childhood traumas and the political assassination of her father in a city under siege, filmed entirely in Maputo, Mozambique

A BROTHER WITH PERFECT TIMING
Feature documentary/drama for Island, BBC TV and WDR

abdullah The story of the music and ideas of Abdullah Ibrahim, the finest pianist and composer to emerge from South Africa, while exiled in New York with memories of Cape Town and the sources of his music.

"An engrossing profile... powerful and moving" (The Independent, London)

"A striking, dispassionate film... great imagination" (City Limits, London)

"A gentle wisdom seldom seen on television" (The Times, London)

"An outstanding event at the festival" (Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich)

"Imaginative dramatizing... makes the cinematic experience more than a record" (Village Voice, New York City)

"A poetic celebration... and extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary musician. Excellent." (GQ, London)

"Visualises with a sense of understatement... a casually charismatic storyteller" (New York Times)

WATCH A BROTHER WITH PERFECT TIMING on Vimeo


THE HOUSE OF HUNGER
Feature drama/documentary for Channel Four

house Based on the prize-winning novel by Dambudzo Marechera, on growing up black in white Rhodesia, and the exiled writer's return to the newly liberated Zimbabwe.

"Brilliant - an entirely new kind of film... a positive revelation of what still lies to be understood in the colonial experience" (Nadine Gordimer)

"An important film which takes risks in both subject matter and presentation" (City Limits, London)

"Curious and unsettling... appears manipulative and sensational in the extreme" (Sunday Times, London)

"Exhilaratingly fresh... honest to a fault... a marvellous, scandalous document in cinematic images" (Lewis Nkosi)


AWAKE FROM MOURNING
Documentary for ZDF and Channel Four

awake On the political and community work of the women of Soweto under apartheid, lead by the legendary Ellen Khuzwayo

"An inspiring story of struggle" (Sunday Times, London)

"Excellent" (The Observer, London)

"A remarkable, poignant film" (The Star, Johannesburg)

An Outstanding Film of the Year - London Film Festival


SOUTH AFRICA BELONGS TO US
Documentary for WDR, BBC TV and PBS

The story of the lives of five ordinary black South African women living under the apartheid system, secretly shot with the help of journalist Nomavenda Mathiane, also featuring interviews with Fatima Meer and for the first time, Winnie Mandela

"Chris Austin's remarkable film" (Daily Express, London)

"A unique picture" (The Standard, London)

"Very viewable" (The Times, London)

"Creates a powerful, almost textural feel... one of the very best indictments of the South African regime. Highly recommended" (Time Out, London)

"Everything but a routine feature... marked by a composure that leaves nothing to be desired regarding clarity and wordless indignation" (Die Zeit, Frankfurt)

Finalist, New York Film Festival, MRAP Prize, Amiens Festival. Year's Highest Rated Documentary on German Television

WATCH SOUTH AFRICA BELONGS TO US on Vimeo


I TALK ABOUT ME, I AM AFRICA
Documentary film for BBC TV and WDR

south On the culture and politics of radical black theatre work in South Africa under apartheid, featuring Ingoapele Madingoane, Matsemela Manaka, Gibson Kente and the women of Crossroads

"An extraordinarily exciting film... an astonishing revelation... a moving celebration of a growing form of resistance" (Time Out)

"Compelling" (The Observer, London)

"This will have the impact that Lionel Rogosin's Come Back Africa had in its day" (The Sunday Times, London) "An outstanding film" (Daily Express, London)

"This year has seen several exemplary offerings. High on the list must sit Chris Austin's two films" (Time Out, London)

WATCH I TALK ABOUT ME, I AM AFRICA on Vimeo


THE AFRIKANER AND THE GOSPEL
Documentary for LWT and WDR

An interrogation of how the Afrikaner Dutch Reformed Church could reconcile apartheid with Christianity, featuring Alan Boesak

"An illuminating enquiry" (The Times, London)


RHYTHM OF RESISTANCE
Documentary for LWT, Virgin and Seuil Audiovisuel, with Jeremy Marre

The story of popular music in South Africa under apartheid, featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Mahotella Queens, Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, Babsy Mlangeni and others, narrated by John Matshikiza.



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