Sara Blecher (born
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
) is a South African director and producer.
Biography
Originally from South Africa, Blecher's family moved to
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...
in 1981, when she was 12 years old.
Her family is originally of Jewish Lithuanian origin, which informs some of her work.
After a brief spell at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, Blecher lived in Paris for a year and enrolled in film school upon her return to New York.
In 1992, shortly after graduating from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
, she returned to South Africa.
She directed the documentaries ''
Surfing Soweto'' and ''Kobus And Dumile''.
She was nominated for Best Movie Director at the
2013 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for her first film ''
Otelo Burning'', a story of how 16-year-old Otelo Buthelez learns how to surf during the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
era. The film won 17 awards internationally. It was filmed in
Zulu, with English subtitles, and stars
Jafta Mamabolo,
Thomas Gumede
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, and
Tshepang Mohlomi. Following the success of Otelo Burning, Blecher received funding from the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) for a "slate of
films
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
".
Her second film, ''
Ayanda'', premiered on 10 October at the 2015
BFI London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
and took international honors at the
LA Film Festival
The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
in 2015.
Blecher is married and has three children.
Filmography
*
''Mayfair'' (2018)
* ''
Dis ek, Anna'' (2015)
* ''
Ayanda'' (2015)
* ''
Otelo Burning'' (2013)
* ''
Surfing Soweto'' (2010)
* ''
Kobus And Dumile'' (2002)
References
External links
Ayanda pageat Array Films.
Living people
1960s births
South African film directors
South African film producers
South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
White South African people
Date of birth missing (living people)
{{SouthAfrica-bio-stub