Credits
Director Engelbert Phiri & Zinzi Nkenene
Writer Engelbert Phiri & Zinzi Nkenene
Producer Engelbert Phiri & Zinzi Nkenene
Project Type Short, Documentary
Runtime 22 minutes 1 second
Country of Origin South Africa
Synopsis
The Windmill That Stands Tall is an atmospheric film that tells the story of; three Afrikaans farmers wives; Lesley Olser, Clare Baines-Webb and Anja Pienaar, and that of the Booysens family. The film intersperses verité cinematography with intimate interviews. The film is set in the Karoo (a Bushman word for “dry place”) with a very sparse population. It’s South Africa’s magical desert space, its version of New Mexico, the Outback or the Gobi. A vast, ancient seabed straddling the midriff of South Africa. Over three decades ago, the three farmers wives founded what some, today call “a miracle in the desert”: An educational and development project situated east of Colesberg in the Great Karoo catering to; town’s people, farm workers’ children, and those of the once semi-nomadic Karretjie Mense (Donkey Cart People) who roamed the Karoo on donkey carts, and lived off the land.
The film is told through the eyes of; the three farmers’ wives, and the Booysens family. The Booysens are part of the Karretjie Mense community – the cart people – an itinerant Afrikaans speaking Karoo community that has always lived on the margins of society. They survived on traditional hand sheep-shearing jobs, but now, sheep farmers use electric shearers rendering the Karretjie Mense shearers redundant. The family’s four children – Breyten, Franscina, Dawid and Lee-Ann are enrolled at the Trust’s School.
Now, in retirement, three decades later, and in their twilight years, the founders reflect on the difficult subject of their privilege owing to the country’s history. The film interrogates collective responsibility, against the backdrop of South Africa’s pre-democratic historical realities. Along the way, we reflect, and learn the secret, and untold histories of this convoluted place, and its people like the Booysens, that we think we know.
Director Biography
Engelbert Phiri
Engelbert followed multi-disciplinary studies in; Fine Art, Graphic Design and Film. He balances independent creative documentary filmmaking with work as a multi-award-winning creative at South Africa’s most awarded Advertising Agencies Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB Johannesburg). He is an alumnus of; the Durban Filmmart (South Africa), New Cinema Network (Italy), VdR, Pitching du Reel (Switzerland), and MiradasDocs (Tenerife, Spain). He is drawn to creative non-fiction filmmaking that is often explores the themes of childhood, language and identity..
