Anant Singh

Anant Singh is currently chief executive officer and chairman of the Videovision Entertainment Group; chairs Cape Town Film Studios, a state-of-the-art film studio facility in Cape Town; co-chairs the Cape Town Metropolitan radio station, Smile 90.4FM and serves on the board of the Victor Daitz Foundation, a charitable trust which contributes R20 million per annum to worthy causes in KwaZulu Natal.

Anant, South Africa’s pre-eminent film producer, was born and raised in apartheid South Africa in Durban. He began his film career at age 18 when he left his studies at the University of Durban- Westville to purchase a 16 mm movie rental store. From there, he moved into video distribution, forming Videovision Entertainment and then progressed into film production in 1984 with Place of Weeping, the first anti-apartheid film to be made entirely in South Africa.

DEDICATION AND TENACITY

His success, says Anant, may be attributed to hard work, dedication and tenacity. He added, “My passion was the film industry. I set about learning everything that I could about it. I was motivated to pursue my dream and when I was 22, I made my first overseas trip to a film market where I set about making business contacts.”

He commented that these contacts, some with whom he still does business today, gave him an insight into the industry, and mentored him as he developed his business. He said, “I have built great and lasting business relationships because of friendships. Success cannot be achieved alone. The business of film is a collaborative endeavour, which sees hundreds, sometimes thousands of people coming together, totally committed to producing a film.”

However, he said that establishing a business in the film and entertainment sector in apartheid South Africa was a huge challenge. He encountered racism at every level, particularly because it was an industry that was reserved for whites only. “Banks would not provide me with credit; cinemas would not play my films and services companies would not allow me to open an account, necessitating cash payments. Despite all these challenges, I was able to enter a closed industry and make inroads and build a sustainable business.”

TREMENDOUS ABILITY
Of note Anant is the producer of Yesterday (from director, Darrell James Roodt), which received South Africa’s first Academy Award Nomination in the Best Foreign Language Picture category in 2005, the Peabody Award and an Emmy Nomination in 2006 in the “Outstanding Made for Television Movie” category.

Nelson Mandela called him “a producer I respect very much…a man of tremendous ability” when he granted him the film rights to his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. The film titled Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, is directed by Justin Chadwick and stars Idris Elba as Mandela and Naomie Harris as Winnie Mandela. The film has received wide critical acclaim internationally, and received prestigious award recognitions, including Academy Award and BAFTA nominations and a Golden Globe Award win.

A selection of his feature films includes: Sarafina! with Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo and Miriam Makeba; The Road to Mecca, with Kathy Bates; Father Hood, with Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry; Captives, with Julia Ormond and Tim Roth; Stephen King’s The Mangler, Cry, the Beloved Country with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris; and Red Dust, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor, a drama focussing on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

SOCIAL CON
Anant has also produced notable documentaries, including Countdown to Freedom, about the first democratic election in South Africa, Prisoners of Hope, about a reunion on Robben Island of 1250 of its former political prisoners led by Nelson Mandela, Hero For All which documents Nelson Mandela’s farewell visit to the United States as he stepped down from the South African Presidency.

Significantly Anant said that he is a firm believer of the concept of business with a social conscience. He said, “The spirit of sharing and caring is central to the ethos of our business’s social investment strategy.”

In his free time Anant enjoys swimming, photography, books and art, He added, “Movie going is work.”