ENCOUNTERS 2024: CAPE-HELENA

Every year since our founding in 2010, The Bioscope has proudly hosted screenings of The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. Now over 25 years old as a festival, Encounters returns to The Bioscope once again with screenings from 21 June - 30 July. Tickets are R80. For more information on the festival as a whole, please visit encounters.co.za

SEE THE FULL BIOSCOPE SCHEDULE FOR ENCOUNTERS HERE

CAPE-HELENA

Damian Samuels | South Africa | 2023 | 70 min

A quiet film that dives into both personal and public histories, Cape-Helena evokes a sense of nostalgia for a place many have never been to before: St Helena Island. We travel with the narrator, himself a descendant of the island, as he tries to follow the branches of his family tree and figure out his ancestors’ past. However, what he discovers is a winding path of intertwined stories all speaking to how the island itself has lived through years of colonialism, war and slavery. Not many come from the island, but the stories seem endless. It is a raw and unfiltered look into the relationship between South Africa and St Helena Island, and how this connection has affected the lives they have harboured for generations.