In a remote stretch of Patagonia, Argentina, there is a family - the Dickasons - who speak a language from a country 7,000km to the east. They are part of a 114-year-old Afrikaans Boer community - South Africans of Dutch descent who sailed across the ocean to South America after the destruction of a war with the British. Today, less than 50 still speak the language and they struggle to keep their culture alive. Patriarch "Ty" Dickason, 82, is a cowboy who has never flown in a plane - and yet he yearns to one day visit the country of his blood before he and his compatriots pass away. This multiple SAFTA award-winning documentary is a portrait of the last days of the community - a parallel world where Afrikaans was never linked to Apartheid - and one family's journey to reconnect with South Africa.
Related Movies
Palme's Secret Agent (2015)
At the height of the cold war a struggle broke out between Governments from all over the world as to which position to take about the system of apartheid in South Africa. Leading the fight was Olof Palmes' Swedish Government, which covertly funneled over US$ 1 billion to the resistance movement. This money was given without the knowledge of either the Parliament or the Swedish populace. At the center of the net in South Africa was a Swedish diplomat called Birgitta Karlström Dorph. Meanwhile at the UN the Swedes with their Scandinavian counterparts attempted to win the argument for economic sanctions. This led to bitter arguments which saw Palme leading the fight against the Reagan and Thatcher administrations.
Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit 1996 (1996)
Sexy supermodels Tyra Banks, Valeria Mazza, Kathy Ireland, Stacey Williams, Ingrid Seynhaeve, Rebecca Romijn, Angie Everhart, Manon von Gerkan and newcomer Georgianna Robertson hit South Africa for the 1996 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (2002)
The struggle to eradicate apartheid in South Africa has been chronicled over time, but no one has addressed the vital role music plays in this challenge. This documentary by Lee Hirsch recounts a fascinating and little-known part of South Africa's political history through archival footage, interviews and, of course, several mesmerizing musical performances.
Rhino Man (2024)
RHINO MAN follows the courageous field rangers who risk their lives every day to protect South Africa's rhinos from being poached to extinction.
Pretoria to Durban (1952)
This Traveltalk series short gives a glimpse into South African history, albeit from a white person's viewpoint. South Africa is a union of four separate states: the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal, and the Cape Provence.
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024)
More than 60,000 of Ernest Cole’s 35mm film negatives were inexplicably discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm, Sweden. Most considered these forever lost, especially the thousands of pictures he shot in the U.S. Told through Cole’s own writings, the stories of those closest to him, and the lens of his uncompromising work, the film is a reintroduction of a pivotal Black artist to a new generation and will unravel the mystery of his missing negatives.
Winnie (2017)
While her husband served a life sentence, paradoxically kept safe and morally uncontaminated, Winnie Mandela rode the raw violence of apartheid, fighting on the front line and underground. This is the untold story of the mysterious forces that combined to take her down, labeling him a saint, her, a sinner.
2 or 3 Things I Know About Him (2005)
What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)
Scenes from a Dry City (2019)
Gripped by a fear of drought, 'SCENES FROM A DRY CITY' uses the lens of water to reveal cracks in Cape Town's complex social fabric.
Freedom Isn't Free — The Freedom Charter Today (2018)
Since its adoption in June 1955 by the Congress movement, the Freedom Charter has been the key political document that acted as a beacon and source of inspiration in the liberation struggle against Apartheid. It was reputedly the main source that informed democratic South Africa’s liberal constitution and a constant reference point for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and rival political parties that it spawned since 1994, all claiming the Freedom Charter’s legacy. Freedom Isn’t Free assesses the history and role of the charter, especially in relation to key political and socio-economic aspects of developments in South Africa up to the present period. It includes rare archival footage with interviews of a cross-section of outspoken influential South Africans.
My Beloved Country (1991)
A provocative look from within at Afrikaner extremists who, in 1991, clung to the belief that they were the chosen ‘super race’ of Africa. With the demise of white rule, many of these Boers lived in fear. Some had banded into paramilitary groups, such as Eugene Terre’Blanche’s Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which claimed wide support within the South African army and police. They were preparing for an armed showdown with the new government.
Mandela (1996)
A documentary that chronicles the life of South African leader Nelson Mandela. Mandela is probably best known for his 27 years of imprisonment, and for bringing an end to apartheid. But this film also sheds light on the little-known early period of Mandela's life.
Dawn of Humanity (2015)
Nova and National Geographic present exclusive access to an astounding discovery of ancient fossil human ancestors.
Tapologo (2008)
In Freedom Park, a squatter settlement near the platinum mines in SA, a network of former sex workers create Tapologo. They learn to be Home Based Carers for their community, transforming degradation into solidarity and squalor into hope. Catholic Bishop Kevin Dowling participates in Tapologo and raises doubts on the official doctrine of the Catholic Church regarding AIDS and sexuality in the African context.
Life and Death at Mala Mala (2023)
Journey to the banks of the Sand River, where seven magnificent creatures reign supreme. In this captivating 24-hour odyssey, witness their pursuit, survival, and delicate balance of power-Marvel at their strength, vulnerability, and relentless determination. Encounter the neighbours from hell, territorial battles, and the intricate dance of interactions. Within this unfolding drama, the biggest, most potent, fastest, and smartest thrive while others meet their fate. Brace yourself for an unforgettable adventure-a testament to resilience, survival, and the raw beauty of seven of Africa's magnificent creatures.
A Question of Madness: The Furiousus (1999)
In Capetown, South Africa, in September 1966, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, was stabbed to death in Parliament. The course of South African history was changed by the assassin, Dimitri Tsafendas, who was written off as mad and condemned to twenty-eight years of imprisonment. A Question of Madness tells the extraordinary human story of a man, born of a black mother, but classified white, who travelled the world in hopeless search of sanctuary - eventually returning to the land of apartheid to wreak vengeance on the one who symbolized the racism which had haunted his life.
South Africa: A Journey of Discovery (1992)
This is a country of gold, diamonds, and great natural wonders. An ancient land undergoing a dramatic political change. A place where wild animals and modern high-rise cities exist side-by-side, where great deserts contrast with lush farmlands. Visit Johannesburg a city built on gold, and Durban where spices of the East mingle with the influence of the Zulu people. View Cape Town from the summit of Table Mountain and fly over the dramatic Drakensburg Mountains. Take a photo safari at the Londolozi Game Reserve where elephants and lions roam freely in the African wilderness. Out of the conflicts of the past is emerging a new country, a land of amazing natural beauty; one of the world's best-kept secrets.
Street Monkeys (2009)
Breaking and entering, gang fights-it's not the lifestyle you would imagine inside the posh Mount Edgecombe Estate in Durban, South Africa. But for our primate cousins, the vervet monkey, just trying to protect their turf is all in a day's work. This group of mischievous vervet monkeys bring action and drama to every street corner. Over the course of a year, two rival gangs, the Pani Troop and the Sugar Cane Gang, will vie for prime real estate. See who will win.
The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife (1991)
From award-winning director Nick Broomfield, The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife documents Broomfield's efforts to interview Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the sinister neo-nazi AWB Afrikaner Party in South Africa. Cameras capture awkward interactions with skittish AWB supporters, combat training of militant youth, and the coveted interview itself. Broomfield's access to these events is made possible by the leader's driver, whose wavering allegiance to the movement is explored as well.
The Giant is Falling (2016)
The film documents the key political issues in recent years in South Africa that have marked the demise of the African National Congress (ANC). These include the Marikana massacre in August 2012, whereby 34 striking miners were gunned down by the ANC government's police force. Rehad Desai documented this historic event in his 2013 film MINERS SHOT DOWN. He refers to the incident once again in his latest film and shows how the ANC is undermining its close connections to the trade unions it set up as a freedom movement under Nelson Mandela, and how students have also turned on the party to protest against tuition fees under the motto #FeesMustFall. The film's compelling footage unmasks the cynical despotism of corrupt president Jacob Zuma, who is chiefly responsible for the ANC's demise and its catastrophic losses at the most recent elections. It also introduces opposition movements that are challenging his now-untenable position.