Date of birth:
Website: http://www.cfms.uct.ac.za/

Dr Martin Botha published more than 200 articles, reports and papers on the South African media, including five books on South African cinema, namely Images of South Africa: the rise of the alternative film (1992), Movies Moguls Mavericks: South African cinema: 1979-1991 (1992), Kronieken van Zuid-Afrika: de films van Manie van Rensburg (1997), Jans Rautenbach: Dromer, baanbreker en auteur (2006) as well as Marginal Lives and Painful Pasts: South African cinema after apartheid (2007).

Dr Botha has an in-depth knowledge of South African and African cinema. He was actively involved in research regarding the restructuring of the South African film industry, as well as film policy that lead to the creation of the South African National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). He also served as consultant for the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (WESGRO) regarding the establishment of the Cape Film Commission. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Cape Film Commission, as well as the Council of the National Film and Video Foundation (1999-2006) and the Board of the Cape Film Commission (1999-2003).

He was also the project leader of an investigation into the establishment of a national statutory body for the administration and funding of the local film industry (July - December 1994) and was one of the writers of the White Paper for the post-apartheid South African film industry.

His is currently working on a historical companion to South African cinema.

Prof. Botha is currently an Associate Professor in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town. He is a member of FEPACI’s Feasibility Study Steering Committee. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of African Cinemas. Since 1991 he has been South Africa's correspondent for International Film Guide.
The Centre for Film and Media Studies is committed to promoting the study of African Cinemas, taking account of the richness and diversity of the film cultures that have emerged from the countries that make up this vast and complex continent. Prof. Botha convenes a third-year course in African Cinemas that introduces students to the work of directors such as Djibril Diop Mambety, Youssef Chahine, Gaston Kabore, Ousmane Sembene and Gillo Pontecorvo. The course examines contemporary issues in African cinemas, including cinema in South Africa during and after apartheid.

He is also in charge of an ongoing seminar in African Cinemas at the Centre for Film and Media Studies.

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