Simon Hansen is a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

filmmaker who has been active in the film and entertainment industry since 1992. He is best known for producing ''

Alive in Joburg ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction film, science fiction mockumentary 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-p ...

'', the film on which

District 9 ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction mockumentary 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 Zeala ...

is based.

Background

Hansen discovered and mentored long time collaborators and friends

Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 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'', t ...

and

Neill Blomkamp Neill Blomkamp (; born 17 September 1979) is a South African filmmaker. He employs a documentary-style, Hand-held camera, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, computer-gene ...

. Blomkamp was still in high school when they began working together. He mentored many

animators An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

and

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...

and

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

Film Industries. He partnered with Copley in business for well over a decade. They supplied

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * e.tv, a South African terrestrial television channel * Educational Television (Hong Kong), a television series * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television ap ...

(Emery Telcom) with a show called ''Deadtime'' which ran during the 'dead time' for midnight to 6am. He still conducts

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

s in South Africa to inspire and unite young filmmakers and grow the industry. He is currently collaborating with young talent to produce films under his compan
Inspired Minority Pictures
As a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

, he has worked to build a film industry in South Africa that can compete in the international arena. He owns a

Visual Effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated 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 foota ...

company calle
Atomic Visual Effects
a

talent agency Talent has two principal meanings: * Talent (measurement), an ancient unit of mass and value * Talent (skill), a group of aptitudes useful for some activities; talents may refer to aptitudes themselves or to possessors of those talents Talent may ...

called 'Slaves Talent Management' and a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

called Inspired Minority Pictures, which is now his vehicle for creating, what he calls, 'commercial Independent' films.

Partnerships and associates

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

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 2006 under the Cinema Du Monde Section. ''Hellweek'' also featured a then unknown Copley as a relentless US

drill sergeant A drill instructor is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces, fire department, or police forces with specific duties that vary by country. Foot drill, military step, and marching are typically taught by drill instructors. Australia Austr ...

. The theme of ''Hellweek'' relates to the training of world-class animators in a third world South Africa. ''2001: a Space Oddity'' shares some themes with ''District 9'' in that it features the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

'' landing on a

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

street as opposed to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Hansen's first feature film entitled ''Spoon'' was co-directed by Copley in 2006 and shot using brand new camera technology. The

supernatural thriller Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

produced by Hansen, Quinlan and Copley stars

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the Sky 1 series ''Spy'', for which he won a BAFTA Award. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd began acting at age 17 in amateur theat ...

and

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

. Copley left Hansen to finish the project, when he was offered the lead role of Wikus Van Der Merwe in ''District 9''. ''Spoon'' was released in 2011. Hansen was instrumental in the development of the 'si2k' 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, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

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

''. The film features a documentary 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 fund ...

'', a short film which featured a future

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

world without water, 35 years after 'The Water War'. ''Pumzi'' (Swahili for "Breath") was written and directed by a young

Kenyan ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

director, Wanuri Kahui. The short film is part of the

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...

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

Visual Effects

Hansen's compan
Atomic Visual Effects
has produced

3D animation Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

and

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated 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 foota ...

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''

Inspired Minority Pictures – Perfect 10

Inspired Minority Pictures was expected to produce 10

low-budget film A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

s and has taken over 100 submissions and conducted 4 workshops throughout South Africa. Hansen believes the process of making ''Spoon'' has shown the way for filmmakers to take full advantage of the new world offered through technology and innovation, and refers to ''Spoon'' as the project which proved it. He calls it "a big film in a small film's body", and is currently collaborating with young South African talent to produce 10 low-budget, high-impact, commercially independent features based on ''Spoon's'' production model. Hansen intends to use technology and innovation to turn low-budget films into more profitable commercial properties.

References

External links

*
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)