The LambBiography
"Although film making is a passion to me it is actually so much more. It's a way of life to me, to make films that can change the lives of others for eternity. Movies for Life creates a vehicle for me in which I can live out my way of life." Regardt van den Bergh
Regardt is an acclaimed South African film and television director who has garnered a Medal of Honour from the South African Academy for Science and Art for his outstanding and innovative work in television in 2012. He was also awarded the special Ischia Global Award for his ‘extraordinary films and contribution to the art industry’ at the seventh Annual Ischia Global Film & Music Fest in 2009 alongside Sting.
Regardt has made a range of award winning films, including Tornado, which has received 6 awards at the Monaco International Film Festival in 2009, including Best Director and Best Script. The enormous success of Faith Like Potatoes that is being distributed by SONY DVD is testament to Regardt’s ability to make artistic films that are commercially viable. More recently he has made Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hannah Hoekom, 2010 KykNET production, and Klein Karoo, a romantic comedy that partnered with the NFVF in 2013. He has just completed the filming of Uitvlucht, written by him and his wife, Clara. He also produced and directed Uitvlucht due for release in August 2015.
In 1993 Regardt directed a docu-drama called The Gospel According to Matthew. This four-hour word-for-word biblical series soon became the top selling Christian video in the United States and is still selling thousands, fifteen years later. This project inspired Regardt to take a look at the films depicting Jesus Christ as a character. He was immediately stirred to make a film showing Jesus as a likable, approachable non-religious man. Regardt has spent the past ten years developing a project called The Lamb, which will go into pre-production in 2015 along with Tertullus, an historical drama set in first century Judea.
HISTORY
Regardt grew up in an acting family with his father Gert van den Bergh (still a celebrated actor, years after his death in 1968 Gert was well known for his role in the classic film Zulu as Adendorf, and as Man Two in Paramount's The Naked Prey) and his mother Dulsie van den Bergh. During Regardts’ school career he acted in several films, most notable is Die Kandidaat. His performance as a juvenile delinquent won him recognition as an actor, serious about his craft.
After school Regardt worked as a trenching foreman for the South African Railways, to earn the money for his studies. In 1972 he went to the University of Cape Town to study for a BA degree and a Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama. Before the end of his second year, Regardt won a part in an Afrikaans film, Ongewenste Vreemdeling. He joined Jans Rautenbach (an acclaimed film director and producer in South Africa, (Lifetime Achievement Award, Silwerskerm 2013) as a general gofer, assistant editor and actor. Regardt didn't finish his degree but worked and acted for two years after which he landed a lead in the first Afrikaans TV series, Dokter, Dokter in 1975.
For four years Regardt acted in many TV dramas and several films until he made his directing debut in 1981. Vyfster, an eight-part mini-series won Regardt many awards and great acclaim in the industry. He then spent most of his time directing television programs for South Africa companies on a freelance basis.
In 1983 Regardt became the resident film director for Philo Pieterse Productions. His first feature film, Boetie Gaan Border Toe, broke all box office records in South Africa. Subsequent films ensured Regardts’ status as one of South Africa’s foremost film directors. Regardt made several films and won many nominations and awards. Most notable of these are Circles in a Forest, nominated as best picture and The Sheltering Desert for which Regardt received the Africa MNET award for best director in 1990.