Simon Hansen is a South African filmmaker best known for ''

Alive in Joburg ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction action film directed by Neill Blomkamp in his feature film debut, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. It is a co-production of New Zealand, t ...

'', which the film

District 9 ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction action film directed by Neill Blomkamp in his feature film debut, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. It is a co-production of New Zealand ...

was later based on.

Background

Hansen and

Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born November 27, 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film ''District 9'', the 2010 adaptation of ''The A-Team'', the science fiction film ''Elysium'', ...

supplied

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

(Emery Telecom) with a show called ''Deadtime'' which ran during the 'dead time' for midnight to 6 a.m.

Partnerships and associates

Hansen has worked closely with Copley, Amira Quinlan, and Hannah Slezacek on most of his projects. Hansen directed and produced two short films, ''2001: a Space Oddity'' and ''Hellweek'', both of which were featured at the

2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai served as jury president for the main competition, the first Chinese to preside over the jury. English filmmaker Ken Loach won the Palme d'Or for th ...

, regarded as '' cinéma du monde''. Hansen's first feature film, ''Spoon,'' was co-directed by Copley in 2006, produced by Hansen, Quinlan, and Copley, starring

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd is a British actor who starred in the Sky One series '' Spy'', for which he won BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd was born in Hastings, Su ...

and

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...

. Copley left Hansen to finish the project after when he was offered the lead role of Wikus Van Der Merwe in ''District 9''. ''Spoon'' was released in 2011. Hansen helped in the development of the " SI-2K", which was used for the first time on ''Spoon'' and later on ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...

'', which won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

. In 2005, Hanson and Sharlto produced a short film directed by Neill Blomkamp entitled ''

''. The film features a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

style account of aliens living in South African townships and is the basis for the 2009 film ''District 9'', in which Copley starred. Hansen also directed the second unit in ''District 9''. In 2009, Hansen produced ''

Pumzi ''Pumzi'' () is a Kenyan science-fiction short film written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu. It was screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as part of its New African Cinema program. The project was funded with grants from the Changamoto arts ...

'', a short film which featured a future

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

world without water, 35 years after the fictional "Water War". ''Pumzi'' (Swahili for "breath") was written and directed by Kenyan director,

Wanuri Kahiu Wanuri Kahiu (born 21 June 1980) is a Kenyan film director, producer, and author. She is considered to be “one of Africa's most aspiring directors, being part of a new, vibrant crop of talents representing contemporary African culture”. She ...

. The short film is part of the

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...

backed Africa First Program and was officially in competition at Sundance 2010.

Visual effects

Hansen's company, Atomic Visual Effects, has produced

3D animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern ...

and

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

for ''Spoon'', ''What the Bleep do We (k)now'', ''The Breed'', ''

'', and ''Chronicle''. Hansen also supervised the visual effects on '' Lost City Raiders'', and the TV series ''Crusoe''.

References

* *

External links

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Twitchfilm
Simon Hansen heads to Sundance
Spoon on IMDBChannel 24
Spoon article {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Simon Living people South African film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)