For generations of South Africans, the weekend did not properly commence until Barry Ronge had spoken. Whether through his witty, barbed prose in the Sunday Times, his musings in the long-running Spit ‘n Polish column, or his measured, unmistakable purr over the airwaves of Radio 702 and SABC, Ronge was more than just a critic. He was an arbiter of taste and the genial gatekeeper to the magical escapism of Hollywood and world cinema.
Now, his extraordinary life, public sway and intensely guarded private world are being brought to light in an upcoming documentary feature tentatively titled Ronge’s Right, spearheaded by award-winning filmmaker Jordy Sank and production outfit Sanktuary Films, in close creative collaboration with film critic Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling and Ronge’s life partner of 47 years, Albertus van Dyk.
Cinema Front and Centre, Life in the Sanctuary
Ronge’s cultural footprint is almost impossible to overstate in a South African context. Long before internet virality existed, Ronge possessed a transcendent media ubiquity. While his contemporaries often watched preview screenings from the detached safety of the cinema’s back rows, Ronge was renowned for settling right into the front row. He did not wish to dissect cinema from a cool, clinical distance; he wanted to be engulfed, enchanted, and swept away by it. That emotional investment translated into criticism that was incisive yet fundamentally generous, championing local cinema while holding global blockbusters to account. Yet, for all his public extroversion, the man himself lived at an enigmatic remove.
Following his retirement in 2014, he slipped away from the limelight into a book-lined Johannesburg sanctuary—surrounded by a 1,700-volume film library, lush gardens, and the steadfast companionship of Albertus. When he passed away in 2022 at age 74, he requested that his death be announced only a full week later. That quiet exit was emblematic of a figure who gave everything to the public domain whilst keeping his soul firmly his own.
A Collaboration of Custodianship
What makes Sanktuary Films’ documentary especially compelling is the coalition behind the lens. Director Jordy Sank, celebrated for poignant biographical and narrative work (such as I Am Here and Leemte), brings a sensitive visual style adept at balancing historical resonance with deeply human intimacy.
Complementing Sank is Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling, widely regarded as a spiritual successor in the South African film criticism landscape. Through his multimedia tributes and in-depth interview series with Van Dyk, Spling has spent years laying the intellectual and emotional groundwork for Ronge’s legacy.
The anchor of the project, however, is Albertus van Dyk. Documentaries of this ilk can easily fall prey to the dry hagiography of archival footage and talking-head nostalgia. But with Van Dyk serving as an active participant, the narrative gains unvarnished access to the sanctuary away from the world. It promises to uncover the domestic rhythms, intellectual partnerships, and vulnerable realities that sustained Ronge across half a century of dramatic political and media shifts in South Africa.
More Than a Retrospective
At a moment when digital algorithms, aggregated star ratings, and snippet culture have largely replaced long-form, deeply felt cultural commentary, this documentary arrives as a timely meditation on the lost art of the critic.
Barry Ronge never wrote to impress theorists; he wrote to kindle an appetite for storytelling, treating his audience as co-conspirators in the dark of the cinema hall. In capturing both the charismatic broadcaster and the quiet recluse of the sanctuary garden, Sank, Spling, and Van Dyk are not simply preserving an archive—they are documenting the golden age of South African cultural journalism and the generous heart that beat behind the velvet curtain.