Ashley Lazarus

Ashley Lazarus (born 1941) is a film producer and director.

Biography

Ashley Ronald Lazarus was born on 13 January 1941. Originally he studied economics and law at the University of Cape Town and worked as a medical photographer during that time. From there it was only a short step to making films on medical subjects and his first production was The Helping Hand (1962), which was made for the Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross. This start led to a wide-ranging career in South Africa and abroad, with films ranging from sponsored documentaries and advertising films to public service announcements and features. Amongst his best-known shorts are Canvas in the Sky (1971) and Once Upon a Circus (1976), both featuring Keith Anderson, and Bar and Ger (1978), from the play by Geraldine Aron and featuring Yvonne Bryceland and Wilson Dunster. He also directed two features, namely e’Lollipop (1975) and Golden Rendezvous (1977), though by all accounts the latter was not a happy experience.

His production companies included Kine Afrika, AKA and A.R.L. Services and through them he made sponsored shorts for organisations like Union Castle, BP Southern Africa, the Cape Provincial Administration, Standard Bank, the SABC and Keep South Africa Tidy (“Zap it in the Zibi”). However, it was through his advertising films that he really made a name for himself and his commercials for international cigarette brands like Lexington, Paul Revere and Peter Stuyvesant, as well as for Smirnoff Vodka, were shown all over the world and won awards at various specialised film festivals. Some of them can still be found on the internet. Interestingly, Canvas in the Sky was shown at the 1972 Venice Film Festival as an entry from Swaziland. In December 1971, a programme comprising his films Presenting Les Moore, Brasilia, Canvas in the Sky and Soul Africa (featuring the American soul and gospel singer Percy Sledge) was shown commercially in the cinemas.

Besides the film version of Bar and Ger, he also had other connections to the theatre. In 1969 he contributed to Louis Burke’s stage production of Robert and Elizabeth, in 1982 he was one of the judges for the Amstel Playwright of the Year competition (together with Yvonne Bryceland and Carel Trichardt) and in 1989 he directed the film sequences for the Broadway production of Meet me in St. Louis. He married Cynthia Shar in 1962 and in 1985 he and his family moved to the United States, finally relocating to Israel where he produces films and educational programmes on Jewish history.

Filmography

1962 – The Helping Hand, 1964 – South West Africa / Suidwes Afrika, 1964 – North of the Orange / Noord van die Oranje, 1966 – For John the Dawn: the Story of an Alcoholic / Vir John die Daeraad: die Verhaal van ‘n Alkoholis, 1969 – Namaqualand / Namakwaland, 1970 – Drakensberg, 1971 – Brasilia, 1971 – Soul Africa, 1971 – Presenting Les Moore, 1971 – Canvas in the Sky, 1973 – Danie Craven Rugby Week, 1975 – e’Lollipop / Forever Young, Forever Free, 1976 – Once Upon a Circus, 1977 – Golden Rendezvous, 1978 – Bar and Ger, 1979 – The 10th Buffalo Rally, 1980 – Staying Alive (for SABC), 1983 – Juluka (for SABC. (This filmography is not complete and only includes films for which the director could be established with some certainty. Not every film produced by Ashley Lazarus or his companies was directed by him.)

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