Writer, Director, Founder: Dark Matter Studios

At 31, Henk Pretorius is living the life he consciously created. There was no Plan B, only a goal to make films, whether his Afda film school degree got him the job or not. A self-proclaimed “passionate observer of humanity”, Pretorius poured his ideas into two screenplays. They were both rejected. With his third screenplay he got a producer to help to raise the money and created Bakgat in 2006. “The first time I saw the Ster-Kinekor logo in front of my first film I burst into tears,” he says. Bakgat went on to become South Africa’s first trilogy and one of the most popular Afrikaans films ever made. Pretorius has since created more local hits with Hoofmeisie and Wolwedans in die Skemer. Audience choice awards came with Fanie Fourie’s Lobola, which he co-wrote and directed. Pretorius is currently trying to sign a big international star for his next film as his growing audience anticipates his break into the international market.

— Cat Pritchard

Twitter: @Henk_Pretorius_ Website: dmstudios.co.za