AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER / DIRECTOR

South African-born film maker, Jon Blair, made the Rio drug documentary Dancing with the Devil. He left South Africa in 1966 at the age of 16, having grown up in Parktown. Today he is Al Jazeera English’s acting commissioning editor for major series, specials and discussion programmes. Before that, he produced a number of documentaries that earned him awards, including an Oscar in 1996 for his documentary Anne Frank Remembered. He is the only documentaries producer / director working in the United Kingdom who has won all three of the premier awards in his field: an Oscar, an Emmy (twice) and a British Academy Award. At the recent Encounters documentary film festival, he showcased Dancing with the Devil (2009), Anne Frank Remembered (1995) and Reporters at War: Dying to Tell a Story (2004). Jon also made Murder Most Foul, narrated by Sir Anthony Sher, with its starting point the Brett Golden and Richard Bloom murders in Cape Town. He lives in London and Suffolk with his wife Yvonne, and twin sons, Artie and Louis. He also has two adult children, Tanya and Ben.