CAPE TOWN FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

WINDSONG

We have just recived this information that some of our members may find of great interest:


I’m taking to let you know about the screening of my film at this year’s Encounters Film Festival in Cape Town.

The screening details are: Sunday. 15th August. 4.30 Nu Metro Cinema at the Waterfront.

I will be in Cape Town for the screening and hope that we can muster up as many people as possible to come along to the screening. So, I would be grateful if you could spread the word and I look forward to see you on the 15th.

Thanks much,
Dan


The following synopsis will appear in the programme.

Windsong is lyrical film about the life of South African jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin.

Filmmaker, Daniel Yon, a St Helena native and a Canadian-based anthropologist, who has lived in southern Africa for substantial periods of time since the 1980s, was initially drawn to Sathima's story by her St Helena roots. Shot in New York and Cape Town, the film is a celebration of Sathima's work, a meditation on jazz and diaspora. In her Chelsea Hotel apartment in New York, her home for over thirty years, Sathima patches together her journeys: from apartheid South Africa and its 'pattern of brokenness'; to Europe and a chance meeting and recording with Duke Ellington; and later a fresh start in New York. Her narrative is interwoven with her music and the reflections of others. Much like her haunting song,

Windsong, the film is an eloquent reflection on displacement, exile and belonging.


Daniel Yon is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Education at York University, Toronto, and a Research Associate in Anthropology at the University of Cape Town