Lights, camera, plenty of action in Ted Botha's deep dive into Joburg's movie history

In 1913, a secretive American millionaire, who lived on the top floor of the famous Carlton Hotel, had a crazy idea: to make movies in Johannesburg. And not just any movies but the biggest in the world: huge spectacles with elaborate sets, thousands of extras and epic story lines.

Isidore Schlesinger — better known as ‘IW’ — built a studio on a farm called Killarney, where he set out to challenge a place in America that was still in its infancy: Hollywood.

The glamour, gossip and high drama of IW’s studio fit perfectly into a city experiencing an intoxicating golden age. There was as much action on the movie sets as there was on screen, from political intrigue and the clashing of massive egos to public outbursts, fiery judicial inquiries, disaster and death.

Behind this mad enterprise was a maverick, a tycoon, a recluse, a friend of the famed and the connected. IW could have held his own in California but he chose as his base the City of Gold, and his indomitable ambition saw his "Hollywood on the Veld" soar. This is the never-been-told-before story of the rise and fall of the strangest and most unique movie empire ever.