Killarney Film Studios was a South African film studio established in Johannesburg by New York native and business tycoon Isidore W. Schlesinger in 1915 and is regarded as "the first motion picture studio in Africa".[1] Schlesinger moved to South Africa in 1894, against his family's wishes, when he read about the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand. In 1913, having accumulated wealth throughout various ventures, he ventured in to the entertainment industry in 1913 when he purchased the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg for £60,000 and converted what was an "insolvent" business into a flourishing one named African Consolidated Theatres, which worked on the national distribution of content like variety shows and films from the Cape of Good Hope to the Zambezi River.[2][3][4]
- ^ South African History Timelines Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Film in South Africa. Retrieved online 6 January 2008.
- ^ AmyAGould. "KILLARNEY FILM STUDIOS, JOHANNESBURG'S FIRST MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY GIANT by Deborah Painter – IMAGINEMAG!". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ "Memories of the Killarney Film Studios | The Heritage Portal". www.theheritageportal.co.za. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ "A History of the South African Film Industry timeline 1895–2003 | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 13 August 2020.