frame from re:collection
Petrus Vaalboi
Southern Kalahari Bushman Elder
The star does in this manner, at the time when our heart falls down, the star falls down on account of it. For the stars know the time at which we die.
— Dia!kwain, Bushman Folklore (1911)
DOCUMENTARY
FEATURE FILM
re:collection follows the repatriation of the San's ancestral remains back to South Africa’s Kalahari Desert, exhumed in the 19th and 20th centuries for race-based pseudo-science and currently kept at the Iziko National Museum of South Africa. Despite a shared goal, the ‡Khomani San and the museum face bureaucratic challenges, confronting histories of identity and oppression. The film examines healing in a country grappling with its violent past, exposing the roots of racism in science, the genocide of the San, and efforts to restore dignity and spiritual integrity to a marginalised community.
PREVIOUS FILM
In the developing and producing the documentary film, RECOLLECTION we will maintain the principles and conceptual baseline developed while creating our precursor film; !AITSA. This story-telling model attempts to hold all voices in equal esteem while exploring profoundly complex and emotional topics.
Our award-winning film !AITSA is an example of this approach.
!AITSA transcends tradition, science and spirituality, immersing viewers on a journey that explores the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) project in the Karoo. The film delves into the Khoi and San populations traditional roots and highlights the sacred value of the land.
