À travers les histoires personnelles des membres de sa famille,
Dumisani dresse le portrait intime d’une nouvelle Afrique du Sud qui
se cherche encore.

2004, DVCAM, couleur, 86 min, Afrique du Sud / France, VOSTF
Support de diffusion : Beta SP
Image : N. Kellgren, J. Koval, I. Thaor, I. Neathers, Z. Khanyile, D. Phakathi,
N. Haarhof
Son : T. Hlatsmayo, R. Peterson, P. Kapa, M. Nashinini, L. Mawasha, L. Nzoyi
Montage : Vuyani Sondlo

Production : Dominant 7, Short Ends Pictures
Distribution : Dominant 7

In this film, Dumisani Phakati embarks on a deeply personal quest to search for his family history. This family is far from typical: his father – who passed away six years ago – had eleven wives and a total of no fewer than 52 children. Dumisani knows only a few of his brothers and sisters; in the film, he wants to find all the others. He travels by car from Johannesburg to Soweto and to remote villages in the country, and everywhere he goes, he takes his camera. In a loose home-movie style, he captures numerous unusual meetings in which brothers and sisters shyly examine each other at first, but then most of them happily embrace each other. They compare each other’s faces and exchange memories of their early childhood and – insofar as they knew him – of their father. They talk about happy times, but also about bitter poverty and sorrow. Gradually, the viewer gets an idea of this extensive family, but also of the complex country of South Africa.

France-Afrique du Sud, 2004
colors, video, 1 h 24 min.
Editing: Vuyani Sondlo
Photography: Nina Kallgren, Jonathan Koval, Iran Tahor
Produktie: Laurent Bocahut, Dumisani Phakathi
Regie: Dumisani Phakathi
Screenplay: Dumisani Phakathi
Sound: Themba Hlatswayo, Rhameez Peterson