Shawn Slovo

Last updated

Shawn Slovo (born 1950) is a South African screenwriter, best known for the film A World Apart , based on her childhood under apartheid. She is the daughter of South African Communist Party leaders Joe Slovo and Ruth First. She wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film Catch a Fire (also a historical film about apartheid), and for the 2001 film Captain Corelli's Mandolin . [1]

In the late 1970s she served as Robert De Niro's personal assistant while he made the films Raging Bull and The King of Comedy . She also wrote the screenplay for Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight .

Slovo lives in London and often works for Working Title Films. Her sister Gillian Slovo is also a writer and her sister Robyn Slovo is a producer.

Slovo's family is Jewish. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Gordimer</span> South African writer

Nadine Gordimer was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great benefit to humanity".

Dame Janet Suzman, is a South African-born British actress who enjoyed a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles on TV. In her first film, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), her performance as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna earned her several honours, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Makeba</span> South African singer and activist (1932–2008)

Zenzile Miriam Makeba, nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Wayans</span> American actor, producer, writer and comedian

Shawn Mathis Wayans is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Along with his brother Marlon Wayans, he wrote and starred in The WB's sitcom The Wayans Bros.(1995–1999) and in the comedy films Don't Be a Menace (1996), Scary Movie (2000), Scary Movie 2 (2001), White Chicks (2004), Little Man (2006), and Dance Flick (2009). He made his debut on In Living Color (1990–1993).

Joe Slovo was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth First</span> South African journalist, scholar and anti-apartheid activist

Heloise Ruth First was a South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police.

<i>A Dry White Season</i> 1989 film by Euzhan Palcy

A Dry White Season is a 1989 American drama film directed by Euzhan Palcy and starring Donald Sutherland, Jürgen Prochnow, Marlon Brando, Janet Suzman, Zakes Mokae and Susan Sarandon. It was written by Colin Welland and Palcy, based upon André Brink's novel A Dry White Season. Robert Bolt also contributed uncredited revisions of the screenplay. It is set in South Africa in 1976 and deals with the subject of apartheid. Brando was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

<i>A World Apart</i> (film) 1988 film

A World Apart is a 1988 anti-apartheid drama film and directed by Chris Menges and starring Barbara Hershey, David Suchet, Jeroen Krabbé, Paul Freeman, Tim Roth, and Jodhi May. Written by Shawn Slovo, it is based on the lives of Slovo's parents, Ruth First and Joe Slovo. The film was a co-production between companies from the UK and Zimbabwe, where it was filmed. It features Hans Zimmer's first non-collaborative film score.

Gillian Slovo is a South African-born writer who lives in the UK. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award.

<i>The Color of Friendship</i> American television film

The Color of Friendship is a 2000 television film based on actual events about the friendship between two girls; Mahree & Piper, one from the United States and the other from apartheid South Africa, who learn about tolerance and friendship. The film was directed by Kevin Hooks, based on a script by Paris Qualles, and stars Lindsey Haun and Shadia Simmons.

<i>Catch a Fire</i> (film) 2006 film

Catch a Fire is a 2006 biographical thriller film about activists against apartheid in South Africa. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce, from a screenplay written by Shawn Slovo. Slovo's father, Joe Slovo, and mother Ruth First, leaders of the South African Communist Party and activists in the Anti-Apartheid Movement, appear as characters in the film, while her sister, Robyn Slovo, is one of the film's producers and also plays their mother Ruth First. Catch a Fire was filmed on location in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.

Robyn Slovo is a South African film producer, based in the UK. Her work includes the 2000 film Morvern Callar, the 2006 film Catch a Fire, and the 2011 film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

<i>Burgers Daughter</i> 1979 novel by Nadine Gordimer

Burger's Daughter is a political and historical novel by the South African Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Nadine Gordimer, first published in the United Kingdom in June 1979 by Jonathan Cape. The book was expected to be banned in South Africa, and a month after publication in London the import and sale of the book in South Africa was prohibited by the Publications Control Board. Three months later, the Publications Appeal Board overturned the banning and the restrictions were lifted.

<i>Red Dust</i> (2004 film) 2004 British film

Red Dust is a 2004 British drama film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Tom Hooper.

<i>Red Dust</i> (novel) Novel by Gillian Slovo

Red Dust is a 2000 novel written by South African-born Gillian Slovo that is structured around the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the fictional town Smitsrivier and also addresses the question of truth.

There is a wide range of ways in which people have represented apartheid in popular culture. During (1948–1994) and following the apartheid era in South Africa, apartheid has been referenced in many books, films, and other forms of art and literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindiwe Sisulu</span> South African politician

Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu is a South African politician, former member of parliament from 1994 until 2023, and a current member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress. She previously served as Minister of Housing, as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Minister of Public Service and Administration ,Minister of Human Settlements from, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation and Minister of Tourism.

<i>Friends</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by Elaine Proctor

Friends is a 1993 South African drama film directed by Elaine Proctor. It was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, where it won an award for Caméra d'Or Special Distinction. The film is set during apartheid in Johannesburg and follows three friends who each represent a different faction of South African society.

Linda Mvusi is an actress and architect. Mvusi took an award for best actress at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film A World Apart which was directed by Chris Menges. Mvusi was the first South African to get a best Actress award at Cannes. Mvusi also shared in an award for excellence for her architecture on the Apartheid Museum.

The South African Congress of Democrats (SACOD) was a radical left-wing white, anti-apartheid organization founded in South Africa in 1952 or 1953 as part of the multi-racial Congress Alliance, after the African National Congress (ANC) invited whites to become part of the Congress Movement.

References

  1. "Shawn Slovo biography". filmreference.com.
  2. "Jews in the News:Sarah Michelle Gellar, Julianne Margulies and Jake Gyllenh | Tampa JCCS and Federation".