It is with great sadness that we pay tribute to the life of Laurence Dworkin, longtime member of the STEPS family. Laurence passed away on the night of Sunday, 17th May 2020 from Covid-19 complications.
Laurence’s life was one of hope and determination. He was a lifelong fighter for justice. For example, his brave documentary film, Certain Unknown Persons, made in 1988, told of apartheid’s assassinations being perpetrated at the time.
As an anti-apartheid activist, he documented other injustices on film with Video News Service (VNS) and Afravision. He co-founded Day Zero Films in 1995 after the beginning of democracy in South Africa, and then became part of the nonprofit media company STEPS. He was a producer on the Steps for the Future documentary film collection broadcast in 2001/2, and continued this work as STEPS co-director.
A committed environmentalist, he initiated and produced Caretakers, a project of 26 films on biodiversity and environmental justice that stands as a unique collection on South Africa’s natural richness and those who guard it.
Through all of this, he influenced and became part of the lives of many people. Laurence was a genuinely good person. As a mentor, he will be sorely missed.