Introduction

Many people told me I should interview Michael Rosenberg if I wanted to understand wildlife documentary in Southern Africa. He had, I was told, won more Golden Pandas than any other producer and numerous awards elsewhere. He had discovered one great new filmmaker after another. While he was clearly a global figure in wildlife documentary, he seemed to have had a disproportionate influence on developments in Southern Africa. I found out he had returned to South Africa from England and was living in Durban. While in Durban for the Durban Wild Talk Africa conference in July 2013, I went to where he was staying to meet and interview him.

We had a lengthy and cheerful lunch where he was eager to share his insights and background. Early on, he said pithily, about his career and what his company, Partridge, had achieved, ‘They say you can’t fart against thunder, but we showed you could!’ He gave me copies of lists of his films and awards and, when I eyed his cases of DVDs produced by Partridge avidly, said that we should meet again and see what I needed, pointing out that he didn’t have the rights to share the films as he no longer owned Partridge.

I tried a few times after our meeting to see him again but he responded once or twice by saying he was in ill-health. I was busy with other projects and my last year of departmental headship and didn’t pursue it strongly enough. He died in November 2015 before I could interview him again.

Biography

In 2002, Michael Bright interviewed Rosenberg for WildFilmHistory and this is the single best introduction to his life and vision. He had a privileged introduction to wildlife in that his father, a businessman who owned a steel production company, had bought land next to the Kruger Park where they spent time every year, with his father filming but being frustrated by the results. As Rosenberg put it: ‘He had no idea what he was going to get, he had no idea why he wanted it, and I have his films today which prove that he had no idea how to put them together’ (Rosenberg 2002).