ENC: Mining Memory & Land and Identity (With Q&A)

The Bioscope is proud to welcome back The Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival.

Tickets: R60

Mining Memory: Legacies of St Helena in the Northern Cape

Dir Daniel Yon | Canada/St Helena/South Africa | 2018 | 56 minutes

Considered neither ‘European’ or ‘Native’, the St Helenian immigrants who found themselves in the small mining community of Concordia, Namaqualand in 1907, were confronted with a bewildering social climate in a barren land. Locals of St Helenian descent share stories of their ancestors’, with themes of race, heritage and the significance of ‘place’, both real and imagined, being explored.

Land and Identity

Dir Nomakhomazi Dewavrin & Okuhle Dyo | 2017 | South Africa | 50 min

Current political debate swirls around historic land issues. This film is a moving account of the impact on kids and families of decisions that uproot people, evicting them from their homes and communities for reasons of greed and dubious policy. The story is eloquently told by young voices, its format gives the film freshness and immediacy with lush views of the Atlantic seaboard contrasting with the grittiness of the Cape Flats and the homeliness of Plumstead. Laverne and Jaydon describe their contrasting experiences growing up in Hanover Park and Plumstead in articulate interviews and voice-overs. Laverne shapes her sense of identity away from home. Jaydon is rooted in Plumstead, but his family is faced with a forced removal, nearly a quarter of a century after democracy. The government official Jaydon interviews appears to be distant, disinterested and creepy. What has changed?