Snake Busters -
Healing Power
oF Nature
Series
India 2008
24 min
Director: KArin SlAter
Producer: Michael Raimondo
Steven Bartlo
Eddie Koch
Down a back alley in the bustling south
Indian town of
Hospet, an old ancestral
home houses the Snake
Protection Centre.
From there operate a group of friends
led
by Viru who are out and out devoted to
reptile
conservation and awareness. These“snakebusters”
are on 24-hour call as they
remove snakes and the odd
crocodile from
people’s homes and gardens free of
charge
in order to return them to the wild. The
animated
and humorous group jump on
their motorbikes with their
snake catching
gear and charge off to handle some truly
impressive and sometimes extremely
dangerous
creatures.
Durga Shakti Films / Mafi sa Media /
African Rennaissance
|
From Nkoko…with Love
2005 South Africa
48min / 52min
Director: Karin Slater
Encounters Film Festival / FESPACO /
NWFF
A wise and eloquent Tswana grandmother
hates what
television has done to her
culture. So she decides to
leave a message
for the women of her tribe using the
very
same medium.
At seventy years of age Grace Masuku’s
main concern is
that the indigenous
knowledge of her tribe is vanishing.
She so
often asks the question: ‘If I die with all of
this
knowledge inside me. How will I rest in
my grave?’
Shot in the scenic Pilanesburg area of the
North West province the film highlights the
use of herbs and other indigenous secrets
that make for a happy, healthy life. Depicted
in contrast are the influences of television,
fashion, modern music and dancing.
Grace’s straightforward and humorous
style of communicating, makes learning
the old ways seem very relevant and up to
date. Combined with artful camera work the film gives a delightful view of the Tswana
culture as it currently exists in South Africa.
This film is Grace Masuku’s legacy not only
to her granddaughters but also to all the
indigenous women of the world.
*In MIPTV product library and screener
also available
Durga Shakti Films / Darling lama
Productions / SABC
|
The Meaning of the Buffalo
2004 South Africa
61min
Director: Karin Slater
Sundance Film Festival, Hot docs, Berlin,
MOMA, Africano Film Festival, Milan
London, Beeld voor Beeld
In the top 10 ‘must sees’ of 2004
Sundance Film Festival
In the remote village of Lekhopung, near
the northern
border of South Africa, the
Balete people cannot
remember exactly
why they are so inextricably linked
to their ancestral totem animal, the buffalo. As a
wildlife filmmaker, Karin has a strong and
almost fatal
buffalo past, as ten years
earlier she had been involved in an accident
while filming them. Now she has been
mysteriously drawn to this dusty, droughtridden land to encounter the buffalo once again.
At first the villagers are reticent; stupefied
but curious as to why a white woman is so insistent on knowing the “secret” legends,
folklore, and praise poetry of their totem.
Frustrated by a missing book, a sick chief,
evasive youths and reluctant elders, Karin
persists, and enlists the help of the local
shopkeeper, the Buffalo Soldier. They launch a competition that inspires the community to uncover its own identity.
Gently humorous and wonderfully
poignant, this elegantly shot film observes
the Balete reclaim the rich heritage, beliefs
and
stories of their forefathers. At the
same time it reveals that Karin’s personal relationship with the buffalo is deeper than she suspected.
Durga Shakti Films / Mafisa Media / Big
World Cinema / SABC
Distributor: First Hand Films
|
The Healing Power of Nature
Series
2008 South Africa / India /
Indonesia / Canada
39 x 24min
Encounters Film Festival / DIF
Now in its second successful season this
series brings
together some of South
Africa’s top nature
documentary filmmakers
and gives them a broad brief
to tell stories
about the positive effects of nature on
the
human psyche.
The stories include a man
who works the old San stone
fish traps with
his dogs, a mentally challenged girl who
is brought by her family to swim with and
experience
the
therapeutic effect of wild
dolphins, an elephant that
lives
in a temple in
India and blesses pilgrims, a woman
who is
attacked by a rhino and ends up as a rhino
conservationist.
* ’Laxmi’s Blessings ‘ in MIPTV product
library and
episode screeners also
available
Durga Shakti Films / Mafisa Media /
African Rennaisance / SABC
www.healingpowerofnature.co.za
|
Scars
2005 South Africa
30 min
Director: Karin Slater
Durban International Film Festival /
COP:DOX / Female Eye Film Festival
On a sultry night in the South African
township of
Khayelitsha members of a
female gang stab a young
woman in the
face. The Community Peace Program,
designed to resolve conflict without going
to court,
intervenes and in their unique
way bring about
reconciliation between the
antagonists. Rich in the
rhythm and volatility
of the township the film reveals
a touching
depth of healing between the characters.
*In MIPTV product library and screener
also available
Durga Shakti Films
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