Ettie M. Feldman

(b. Italy, 28/08/1946 - d. South Africa, 24/09/2011). Editor. The daughter of Orthodox Jewish parents who were born in Poland and were sent to labour camps in Siberia, Ettie (Ester) M. Feldman was actually born in Italy after her parents were released and were trying to make their way to Israel. She grew up in Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv, and at the age of 15 started work at the Geva Film Studios, one of only two film studios in Israel at the time. After doing her army service, she decided to visit an older brother in South Africa and, at the age of 21, arrived in Johannesburg. She liked the country and decided to stay.

Although her English "was atrocious" and her Afrikaans non-existent, her first job in the local film industry was as sound editor on an unidentified Afrikaans-language film produced by Jamie Uys. Following that she joined Killarney Film Studios, working her way through countless commercials, any number of documentaries and a wide range of features. Later she described the editing of William C. Faure's mini-series Shaka Zulu (1986) as her most challenging job, with post production occupying three sound studios in Johannesburg.

During her career she worked with South African directors such as David Millin, William C. Faure and Ivan Hall, as well for many overseas directors who came to shoot movies that were not necessarily set in South Africa, but where the choice of location offered financial advantages. She was variously credited as film editor, sound editor, supervising editor, dialogue editor, music editor and post production supervisor. Her last film seems to have been Carroll Ballard's Duma (2005), on which she worked as ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) supervisor. After she left the industry she became a commodity trader. (FO)

Credits

Documentaries

Three Hours in June (in Israel) (Ilan Eldad/1967), Vision of today (Walter Heynacker/1971), Symphony in Steel (Walter Heynacker/1974). Also: Birth of a Giant (director + date unknown), The Train (director + date unknown)

Features

Die Voortrekkers (David Millin/1973), Suster Teresa (David Millin/1974), Sell a Million (Ian Hamilton/1975), The Lion's Share (Norman Cohen/1984), Quiet Thunder (David Rice/1987), White Ghost (BJ Davis/1987), Act of Piracy (John 'Bud' Cardos/1988), Accidents (Gideon Amir/1988), Lethal Woman / The Most Dangerous Woman Alive / The Huntress (Christian Marnham/1988), Jewel of the Gods (Robert van de Coolwijk/1988), Bush Shrink / Trackers (Ivan Hall/1988), The Evil Below (Jean-Claude Dubois/1989), Mutator (John R. Bowey/1989), Night of the Cyclone / Perfume of the Cyclone (David Irving/1990), Terminator Woman /Backlash (Michael Qissi/1993), Saikati, the Enkabaani (in Kenya) (Anne G. Mungai/1998), Bravo Two Zero (Tom Clegg/1998), High Explosive (Timothy Bond/2000), Duma (Carroll Ballard/2005)

Television Series

Shaka Zulu - 10 part series (William C. Faure/1986), Okavango - series (single episode) (Wayne Crawford/1992), Tropical Heat - 7 part series (Clay Borris, Michael Robinson, Billy Ruth/1993), Scout's Safari - 21 part series (various directors/2002-2004). Also: Timber - 12 part series (Bruce McFarlane/date unknown), Brixton Towers (Hans Kuhle/date unknown)

Television Features

Dark Desires: Thelma (Jean-Louis Daniel/1994), Dark Desires: Diana (Cedric Sundström/1994)

Television Shorts

Stray Bullet (Patrick Shai/1996), The Return (Jeremy Handler/1996)

Sources

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0271036/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1

Private correspondence

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