Lionel Ngakane

Lionel Ngakane (17 July 1928 – 26 November 2003) was a South African filmmaker and actor, who lived in exile in the United Kingdom from the 1950s until 1994, when he returned to South Africa after the end of apartheid. His 1965 film Jemima and Johnny, inspired by the 1958 "race riots" in Notting Hill, London, won awards at the Venice and Rimini film festivals. In the 1960s, Ngakane was a founding member of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) and Fespaco, the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). Ngakane was born in Pretoria, South Africa.[2] In 1936, his family and he moved to the Sophiatown neighbourhood of Johannesburg. His father (a teacher) set up a hostel with Alan Paton, author of the 1948 novel Cry, The Beloved Country. Ngakane was educated at Fort Hare University College and the University of Witwatersrand, and worked on Drum and Zonk magazines from 1948 to 1950. In 1950, he began his career in film as an assistant director and actor in the film version of Cry, the Beloved Country (1951), directed by Zoltan Korda. Shortly thereafter, Ngakane went into exile in the United Kingdom. As an actor, he appeared in films, including The Mark of the Hawk in 1957 (with Eartha Kitt), on television — Quatermass and the Pit (1958) and the spy series Danger Man (Deadline, 1962) with Patrick McGoohan, and on stage — in Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl,[5] and Wole Soyinka's play The Lion and the Jewel at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966.[6] Ngakane returned to South Africa after the end of apartheid in 1994. He is best remembered for his short film Jemima and Johnny (1965), inspired by the 1958 "race riots" in Notting Hill, London. It won awards at the Venice and Rimini film festivals. He also directed documentaries on apartheid and African development. He was honorary president of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), which organization he had originated in 1967 as a lobbying group for the support of African filmmakers.[2] He died in Rustenburg, South Africa, in 2003, aged 75.

Known For: Acting

Born: null, null

Died: null

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1951	Cry, the Beloved Country	Absolom Kumalo	61
2	1954	Duel in the Jungle	Servant	59
3	1956	Safari	Makora	56
4	1957	The Mark of the Hawk	African Doctor	30
5	1958	Nor the Moon by Night	Nimrod	60
6	1961	Nothing Barred	Convict	65
7	1962	The Painted Smile	Barman	56
8	1968	Wind Versus Polygamy	Ofodile	0
9	1969	Two Gentlemen Sharing	Bill	40
10	1975	Child of Hope	Mutumbulua	0
11	1977	The Squeeze	West Indian	58
12	1978	Victims of Apartheid	Mokwe	0
13	1994	In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid	Self	0