Set in Nyae-Nyae, a region of Namibia located in southern Africa's Kalahari desert, traditional home of the Ju/'hoansi. It updates the ethnographic film record begun in the 1950s by John Marshall, whose films documented fifty years of change, and who, together with Claire Ritchie, established a grass-roots development foundation, which Adrian Strong (the filmmaker) joined in the late 1980s.
Shot in 2007, two years after Marshall's death (and including footage from his films), the film documents the return of Strong and Ritchie to Nyae-Nyae, where they observe the erosion of a community-led development process following the imposition of a new agenda by the World Wildlife Fund, which prioritizes wildlife conservation and tourism over subsistence farming. Communities voice their dissatisfaction with
the new Conservancy, which has done little to help people farm and improve their lives. The rationale behind the new policy is explored through interviews, archival footage and perceived in the context of the myth that Ju/'hoansi are natural hunter-gatherers cum game conservators thus too culturally remote from farming. The film observes the perpetuation of this myth as documentary filmmakers continue to recreate the past as though it were the present.

Year: 2011
Length: 67 minutes
Director/filmmaker: Adrian Strong
Producer/production company: Adrian Strong
Country of production: UK
Country/location of film: Namibia/Kalahari desert


FESTIVALS / AWARDS

2011 - NAFA Film Festival - Nordic Anthropological Film Association, August 29 - September 1, 2011 - University of St. Andrews, Norway - www.nafa.uib.no
* Selection
Being screened Wednesday 31 August at 14.15