￼Speaking with Earth and Sky: Oral Storytelling in the cinema of Craig and Damon Foster

Martin Botha

doi:10.22475/rebeca.v3n1.318

Abstract

The focus of this article is the documentaries of the Foster Brothers and in particular their bold experimentation with form. A brief historical overview of developments in South African documentary filmmaking from the late 1970s till the 21st century contextualises some of the important thematic concerns in the work of Craig and Damon Foster, namely marginal characters, the forced removal of people from their land, as well as the destruction of indigenous cultures. The directors are among very few South African film-makers, who use the African tradition of oral storytelling in their documentaries. In many ways the documentaries combine the social concerns of the progressive political documentaries of the 1980s with the oral aesthetics of film cultures elsewhere on this continent.

Highlights

Historical contextualisationMy first exposure to the African cinema theories and critical courses occurred at the South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) during the 1980s
The focus of this article is the documentaries of the Foster Brothers and in particular their bold experimentation with form
My first exposure to the African cinema theories and critical courses occurred at the South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) during the 1980s

Summary

Historical contextualisation

My first exposure to the African cinema theories and critical courses occurred at the South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) during the 1980s. Most of the South African documentaries between the 1980s and early 21st century can be described as progressive film texts in the sense that the majority of them are consciously critical of racism, sexism or oppression (Botha 1996; 2006b) They dealt with the lives and struggle of the people in a developing country and were mostly allied with the liberation movements for a non-racial, non-sexist South Africa. Some of these documentaries dealt with events, which were conveniently left out in official South African history books or in a contemporary context in actuality programmes on national television under control of the Nationalist regime (Botha 1996; 2006b). Examples are Between Joyce and Remembrance (2003), The Gugulethu Seven (2000), The Life and Times of Sara Baartman (1998), Ulibambe Lingashoni: Hold Up the Sun (1993), What Happened to Mbuyisa? (1998) and The Cradock Four (2010)

The documentaries of Craig and Damon Foster

Conclusion