November 23, 2024

IS THIS OUR LAST CHANCE?
One Table Two Elephants

Online

April 26 – May 2, 2021

One Table Two Elephants 9 Enhanced <i>One Table Two Elephants</i> [Bir Masa İki Fil] (2019) filminden bir kare ©Jacob von Heland, Henrik Ernstson
Still image from One Table Two Elephants (2019) ©Jacob von Heland, Henrik Ernstson
One Table Two Elephants (2019)
Directors: Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson
84 minutes
Afrikaans, English, Xhosa; Turkish subtitles

A film about race, nature, and ways of knowing in the postcolonial city, One Table Two Elephants, critically examines the social, cultural, and political dimensions of how resources are managed in Cape Town, South Africa. The film weaves together several stories surrounding the mountain that, in Khoi, the non-Bantu indigenous group and language of southwestern Africa, is called “where the clouds gather,” officially known as Table Mountain. The film follows black hip hop break dancers who try to bring their own cultural roots into modern dancing techniques and how conservation efforts are being pursued by the residents of the city.

Entering Cape Town through its plants and wetlands, the many-layered, painful, and liberating history of the city emerges as biologists, hip hoppers, and wetland activists each search for ways to craft symbols of unity and cohesion. Swedish researchers and filmmakers Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson, explore the rapidly growing city shaped by its colonial and apartheid past and how the indigenous people grapple with resource management challenges. The work of nature conservationists with dancers and educators involved in artistic and community projects, reflects on and deliberates over how a city and its environments can be protected.

SALT’s Is this our last chance? program is supported by its founder, Garanti BBVA. The films will only be accessible to online audiences in Turkey.
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