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Feature Films

Jane Warren is a founder member of the Independent Casting Directors Association of South Africa, and has cast 30 international feature films, shot on location in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, Kenya and Tunisia.

She studied Film Drama Production Management at the National Film School in Beaconsfield, UK - and is familiar with all aspects of features production, including Script Breakdowns, Scheduling, Budgets, Location Management, Casting, Contracts, Cash Flow, Cost Reports, Insurance and Completion Bonds. 

Rated as one of South Africa's two top casting directors on international features, Jane later relocated to Cape Town to produce television commercials for international clients.

Highlights included:
  • working with Morgan Freeman in his directorial debut on the political thriller "Bopha!", filmed in Zimbabwe.  Featuring Danny Glover, Alfre Woodard and Malcolm McDowell, Jane cast all the South African and Zimbabwean actors in the film  - and organized crowd scenes of up to 1500 extras.
  • working with British casting doyenne, Mary Selway, on "The Ghost and the Darkness".  The film starred Val Kilmer and 3 "man-eating" lions and was directed by Stephen Hopkins.   Jane cast all the South African talent - and coordinated crowd scenes of 2000 "Indian" railway workers for the spectacular opening shots.
  • casting South African and Namibian talent for "Windprints" - the cult art movie directed by David Wicht.  Starring John Hurt and Sean Bean, "Windprints" was filmed in the small town of Keetmanshoop in Namibia.  
  • In all the above projects, Jane enjoyed the challenge of sourcing local gems of talent, mostly on locations where no film industry previously existed.
South Africa Film Industry:
Prior to 1990, South African feature films were generally made for the local market.  However, with tax benefits available for investors producing feature films for export, numerous low budget international features were made in the '90s, generally featuring B grade movie stars and shot specifically for the growing HBO market. 

Jane considered herself fortunate to be involved in film production at this time as it gave her invaluable experience of how to work creatively within a budget. She worked on numerous feature films for Nu World, (Nu Image) working with producers, Danny and Avi Lerner.

Although many of these films went straight to the video market, their production kick-started the now vibrant South African film industry, giving rise to the vast reservoir of film crew, talent and infrastructure that draws film makers to South Africa today.
Jane - Cannes - 2007