Associate Professor Martin Botha, from UCT's Centre for Film and Media Studies, has joined the ranks of the prestigious Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI). Established 65 years ago, FIPRESCI is an association of professional film critics and journalists from over 60 countries that promotes the artistic development of cinema. Botha is the first South African to be made a member of this organisation.

Botha is a well-known film scholar who has published over 200 articles, reports and papers on South African media. In addition, he has penned six books on South African Cinema:Images of South Africa: the rise of the alternative film (1992), Movies Moguls Mavericks: South African cinema: 1979-1991 (1992), Kronieken van Zuid-Afrika: de films van Manie van Rensburg (1997), Jans Rautenbach: Dromer, baanbreker en auteur (2006), Marginal Lives and Painful Pasts: South African cinema after apartheid (2007). His sixth and latest book, South African Cinema 1896-2010, examines South Africa's complex film history in a socio-political context and includes historical aspects of the local industry that have not previously been documented.

In addition to teaching, Botha has been a free-lance film critic since the 1980's and has advised on several national and international film festivals (including the Cape Winelands Film Festival, as well as Apollo, Edinburgh, Giffoni, Locarno, Durban, the African Film Festival in Milan, the Genova Film Festival, the former Sithengi and the Festival des 3 Continents). He has been South Africa's contributor to International Film Guide since 1991. Botha's membership of FIPRESCI is in recognition of both his extensive knowledge and an impressive career in the industry.

"I am looking forward to being part of the exchange of ideas and experience among film critics and film journalists of all countries and thereby contributing, outside all ideological and political distinctions, to a new foundation for a permanent dialogue. Since South Africa has no national membership of FIPRESCI my individual membership will hopefully contribute to a South African presence on FIPRESCI juries worldwide" said Botha.