Katinka Heyns won the SAFTAs Lifetime Achievement Awards for Direction and Acting in 2010.
Katinka Heyns (born 20 September 1947) is a South African actress and director. She is best known for including a feminist perspective in her movies. She has received many awards, including the International Crystal Award for Women in Film.
Heyns is an alumnus of the University of Pretoria Drama department. She is a prominent figure in the history of Afrikaans cinema. She makes comments on the politics and cultures of South Africa.
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| Background Information | |
| Full name: | Katinka Heyns |
| Born: | 20 September 1947 (age 76 years old) |
| Nationality: | South African |
| Education: | Drama |
| Alma mater: | University of Pretoria |
| Occupation: | Actress, director, filmmaker |
| Years active: | 1969–date |
| Spouse: | Koos Roets Chris Barnard (?-2015) |
| Known for: | Feminist perspectives in her films |
Early Life
Katinka Heyns was born on 20 September 1947. She studied drama at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Career
Heyns, a multiple-award-winning actress, is a prominent figure in the Afrikaans cinema. She stands out in a male-dominated industry. Her films were among the few originals in the mid-ninety-eighties.
The actress has contributed to the television and film industry. Some of her award-winning films are Die Storie van Klara Viljee (1992), Paljas (1998), and Fiela se Kind (1988). Her works are examples of the post-period of the New African Movement in film.
Heyns directed the first season of Onder Draai die Duiwel Rond, a South African television drama series. She received a Lifetime Achievement Awards for Direction and Acting at the 2010 SAFTAs.
Her films celebrate and interrogate the Afrikaans culture and promote the female identity. She bagged the Rapport Oscar for Best Actress for the film Eendag Op ‘n Reendag (1975). She directed Feast of the Uninvited.
Ms. Heyns received a Medal of Honor from the South African Academy of Arts and Science and the Afrikaans Onbeperk Prize. She directed a South African television drama series, Amalia.
Film style
Jans Rautenbach, a screenwriter, film producer, and director, influenced Ms. Heyns. He gave her a start to her film career. She focuses on creating movies on the empowerment of women and their experiences.
According to Keyan G. Tomaselli, her works can comment on the political climate in South Africa by applying a feminist lens. She attempted to portray political and cultural experiences specific to the country. Other directors of her time invested their time in reproducing the American style films.
Personal Life
Katinka Heyns is married to Chris Barnard. Her husband passed away in December 2015. They had a son, Simon Barnard.
Before Chris, she was married to a fellow filmmaker, Koos Roets. She has a son, Richard Roets, who presented the TV program Adrenalien on kykNet, with him.
Awards
Ms Katinka is the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including;
- the International Crystal Award for Women in Film
- ten MNET Vita Awards
- the Rapport City Press Woman of the Year Award
- Academy Awards from the South African Academy of Arts and Science.
- A gold medal for her films Fiela se Kind (Fiela’s Child) and Paljas.
- Paljas received an Oscar nomination in the category Best Foreign Film.
- the first welcomed woman at the Hall of Fame by the National Film and Television Foundation,
- Council member of the NFVF
- received the NTVA Life Time Achievement Award.
- a Laureate recipient at UP
- a Lifetime Achievement Awards for Direction and Acting at the 2010 SAFTAs
- received the Councilor’s Medal of Honor from the TUT.