A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, writer-director-producer Mark Jaffee had, in his words, "the privilege of living in the village called Manhattan" for nearly 20 years.  Alternating between New York and South Africa since 1985, through the years Mark Jaffee's professional career has spanned the fields of film, television and advertising, during which he has produced award-winning films, mini-series and national television commercials.

Among the film and television directors for whom Jaffee has worked are the Academy Award-winning, maverick director Robert Altman.  For companies such as Harmony Gold, HBO, Cinevision Motion Pictures, he has managed film and TV productions in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa, including Race of the Yankee, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Turkey Shoot, Strange Behavior and the mini-series Shaka Zulu. 

On the advertising and design front, Jaffee has overseen the national campaigns of such household names as American Express, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Wells Fargo bank including launches for Microsoft and Clarinex, among others.

Jaffee's interest in the visual medium began during his childhood on a farm in Johannesburg, where he enjoyed painting and taking photographs.  He gradually began taking portrait photographs of some of the black townspeople, many of whom had never seen photographs of themselves before.  This avid skill with the still camera eventually led Jaffee to experimentation with 16 mm cameras and early video cameras - and eventually to art school.

After earning his degree in film studies at West Surrey College of Art & Design in Farnham England, Jaffee took a circuitous route to filmmaking via years of highly successful and in-demand producer and and assistant directing, a period during which he married, had a son, and received his American citizenship. Pol'e Pol'e: Days of Heaven, Days of Hell is his first documentary film and is, in part, a testament to his life-long, dual love affair with Africa, land of his birth, and with New York City, his adopted homeland. It is also the culmination of years of dormant creativity, questioning and dreaming, in cinematic form. Lastly, for Jaffee, Pol'e Pol'e has become a way of life - which those see the film will readily understand.

markjaffee@mac.com