John da Silva

John da Silva (b. **/**/**** – d. 15/05/1980) was a documentary filmmaker.

Biography

After shooting several shorts for director Vernon Whitten when he was with the South African Tourist Corporation, John da Silva became the organisation’s in-house producer, following in the footsteps of Harold C. Weaver and Sven Persson. His first big success was The Peace Game (1970), which depicted South Africa’s game reserves. It won numerous awards, as did On the Third Day (1973), which dealt with the country’s indigenous plant life. His Visions of the Wind (1980) was shown commercially with Jamie Uys’s The Gods Must Be Crazy. He was killed in a car accident near Colesberg in May 1980. One of his last films was Malawi: the Warm Heart of Africa (1980), made for the Department of Tourism of that country.

Credits

1965 – South Africa’s Animal Kingdom / Die Diererykdom van Suid-Africa (Cinematographer) (Director: Vernon Whitten), 1967 – Orange Free State / Die Oranje-Vrystaat (Cinematographer) (Director: Vernon Whitten), 1969 – Natal (Cinematographer) (Director: Vernon Whitten), 1970 – Golden Transvaal (Cinematographer & Director), 1970 - The Peace Game / Vrede in ons Tyd (Cinematographer & Director), 1973 – On the Third Day (Cinematographer & Director), 1975 – A World in One Country / ‘n Wêreld in Een Land (Cinematographer & Director), 1977 – South Africa: Jewel of a Continent (Director), 1978 - The Game Reserves of South Africa (Directed with Jake de Boer for Bonaventure Productions, Canada), 1980 – Visions of the Wind (Director), 1980 – Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa (Cinematographer & Director), 1980 – Coastal Cape (Cinematographer with Ken Eddy & Reinhold Thaumüller) (Director: Lee Marcus).

Sources

Rand Daily Mail, 11 June 1970

Rand Daily Mail, 17 May 1980

Western Cape Provincial Library Records

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