conversations on a sunday afternoon

Tagged "most important movie of South African cinema", this docu-fiction by Khalo Matabane is a fascinating journey through the identity of those who populate South Africa today, and  also a reminder that a time when many South Africans are leaving – or considering leaving the country – many people from other countries are drawn here in search of a better future.

The movie follows a young black South African looking for a woman called Fatima. This quest to find the somalian woman he used to see in the park every sunday, and to tell her story, leads him to the encounter of other refugees and immigrants, taking you through downtown Johannesburg with stop in a deportation camp. The result is a collection of points of view towards the country that is housing them, and their journey in finding an identity in their displaced situation.

You begin to realize, listening to the fascinating, eclectic cast of characters,  that had that movie been filmed in Paris or London, you would have come across a similar selection of displaced people. Which says a lot about immigration as a global concept. 

Watching this movie, and being where I am now, witnessing what is happening in South Africa raised a lot of question and thoughts about immigration and identity, but I leave that to another post as it would be too long and the movie his first and foremost a humanist film, not an intellectual one.

All I can say is I wish it could be played, not just in South Africa, but over the world, because it touches issues that really embody the world we live in today, something I tried to do in my own small way (listen to Fish and Chips and Not of this Planet in the playlist, or click here).

xenophobic violence in Johannesburg

The headlines of the past few days in South Africa have been swept over by news that a burst of violence, against other african foreigners, has spread from the townships to downtown Johannesburg.

The mail and guardian reported yesterday that "another foreigner had been killed in South Africa as a wave of xenophobic violence spread across Johannesburg, bringing the weekend death toll to 13, police said on Monday [...] The violence against foreigners, who are accused by many South Africans of depriving locals of jobs and committing crime, has spread across townships since the beginning of last week."

Jacob Zuma declared to a panel of observer: "We cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia. We cannot be a xenophobic country," adding that he could not understand how people could attack foreigners when ANC members had sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

These riots make a violent echo to the advertisement for the Million Man March Against Crime, which is set for the 10th of June. South African actor-comedian Desmond Dube, has urged men and women, across all races and from all walks of life to join him in demonstrating the power of unity to tackle crime in the country.

www.millionmanmarch.co.za.

nice ride!

Back in Cape town, the weather is gloomier than when we left.
After leaving our bags with Marea in St Martini Gardens we head to Long street, bump into Denis and TK at Regime, and they propose to take us to the V&A waterfront.
Our ride is an old, rusty, white rental beetle.
By the time we arrive at the V&A we are in an ecstatic mood, probably cause we managed to get there in one piece despite a dangerously flat tyre, but I think the weather is also driving everyone mad.

In one of the coffee shops the workers where hollering the orders, you can listen to the recording I made of them in the playlist.

We contemplated changing the tyre but the car threatened to fall in pieces if we tried to unscrew it.







In the end we spent the evening at our friend's house, eating an amazing vegetable roast, drinking red wine and listening to old al jarreau vynils.
Pretty old school le mec!