Dan Jawitz (born 1960) is a South African film and television producer. He is the co-founder of Ice Media, Fireworx Media and Known Associates Entertainment. He was a producer on

François Verster François Verster (born 1969) is an independent South African film director and documentary maker. He has a wide background in writing, music, academia and film. After completing an MA degree with distinction under literature Nobel Prize lau ...

's A Lion's Trail which won an Emmy at the 27th annual News and documentary

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

Career

Jawitz started in the industry as a publicist on the film

Kini and Adams ''Kini and Adams'' is a 1997 Burkinabé drama film directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo. It was filmed in Zimbabwe in English language. Plot Somewhere in southern Africa, in a huge region populated by poor peasants, two friends dream of a better life, ...

which was selected for Official Competition at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

(1997) and nominated for a

Palme d’Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

. In 2000, he launched Ice Media with Joel Phiri in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Nearly 2 decades later, Jawitz and Phiri reunited to form Known Associates Entertainment with Tshepiso Chikapa Phiri. Previous partnerships include, Fireworx Media which Jawitz established in 2008 with Neil Brandt and Bridget Pickering. He was Managing Director of the company for 10 years, producing shows for South African television, including Keeping Score (Telenovela, SABC2) and Hustle (Drama, ETV). In 2014 he co-produced One Humanity with

Tony Hollingsworth The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a popular-music concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, London, and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. Marking the forthcoming 70th birthday (18 July 1988) of the ...

, directed by Mickey Dube, which vividly brings to life the history of the international

Anti-Apartheid Movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

using music, archive and interview. He produced the Netflix hit Wild is the Wind in 2022 and The Umbrella Men broadcast on ETV and Amazon which was selected for the Toronto Film Festival in 2022

Other work

Jawitz is the co-founder of SASFED, the South African Screen Federation and was a Distribution and Marketing Advisor to the South African National Film and Video Foundation from 2005 to 2014. He was also an Executive Committee member on the IPO Board for many years. Jawitz is a judge of the long form documentary section of the International Emmys.

Accolades

In 2005, Jawitz won an

for A Lion's Trail for "Most Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Achievement".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawitz, Dan 1960 births Living people South African film producers