By Andrea Walker and Michal Singer

Liza Key passed away on 10 October 2026, but her legacy endures through her films and through the filmmakers, researchers, and audiences who will continue to engage with and be influenced by her work. That legacy is also embodied in the extensive archive she entrusted to UCT Libraries, ensuring that future generations will be able to study and draw inspiration from a remarkable life dedicated to film, culture, and social history.

A glance at Liza Key's IMDb profile might suggest that she was simply one among many under-recognised South African filmmakers. Yet the archival record tells a far richer story. The collections preserved in UCT Libraries document multiple phases of her life and career, revealing a figure whose influence extended far beyond the films she directed.

From 1987 to 1994, Liza was instrumental in the running of the Weekly Mail Film Festival, working alongside Trevor Steele Taylor. During the final years of apartheid censorship, the festival became an important platform for cinema that was otherwise difficult, and often impossible, to access. Today, the archive preserves almost 250 films associated with the festival, a powerful record of cultural resistance, and international exchange. In addition to the Film Festival, she founded the Limits of Liberty Festival, as well as the Mail and Guardian Short Film Competition.

Liza was also a distinguished independent documentary filmmaker. Her films grappled with some of the most complex and contested aspects of South Africa's past. These include A Question of Madness (1998), which examined the life of Dmitri Tsafendas; The Man Who Knows Too Much (2002), a documentary on Wouter Basson; Karoo Kitaar Blues (2003), produced in collaboration with David Kramer; A Sentimental Journey (2004); Bearing Witness (2007), produced for the Market Theatre; and REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape, and Testimony (2009). Together, these works demonstrate her commitment to difficult histories, nuanced storytelling, and the power of documentary film to confront memory, justice, and identity.

The depth of that commitment is reflected in the archive itself. Approximately 700 BetaSP, MiniDV, DVCam, and VHS tapes document the research, interviews, production processes, and source material behind these films. Preserved in Special Collections, they provide an extraordinary resource for future scholars of documentary film, performance, memory, and South African history.

Liza's contribution was not limited to her own creative work. Through the SCRAWL screenwriting laboratory, she shared her knowledge and experience with emerging filmmakers, helping to nurture a new generation of storytellers. In this way, her influence continues not only through the films she made, but also through the many people whose creative journeys she shaped.

UCT Libraries is honoured to preserve Liza Key's archival legacy. Her collections stand as a testament to a life devoted to documentary filmmaking, cultural memory, and the belief that stories matter. Through them, her voice, vision, and commitment to truth-telling will continue to inform, challenge, and inspire for many years to come.