Encounters: Afrikaaps

Director: Dylan Valley
Cast: Jitsvinger, Bliksemstraal, Blaq Pearl, Emile XY
Year: 2010
Duration: 60 min

Director of Lost Prophets, the talented Dylan Valley returns to this year’s Encounters Film Festival with the well received documentary Afrikaaps. The UCT Honours graduate's documentary film was screened to a full house at the V& A waterfront Nu Metro this week.

I was expecting the film version of the Afrikaaps stage production, which I had not yet seen. Little did I know I was about to get schooled!
The documentary breaks the stereotype and ideologies associated with the language of Afrikaans and the Cape Town coloured community. A language viewed by most South Africans as the language of the oppressor, is exposed to reveal the Khoi San and the Malay as the first to respectively speak and write the Afrikaans language. Just like the mixed nature of the language and the people who speak it, the film combines 3 stories in one. The cast of Afrikaaps’ story, Valley’s story, and the unknown story of Afrikaans are all mashed together to create something ground breaking. These stories are supported by constant reference to an Afrikaaps glossary of terms, the expert opinion of academics, and clips from the stage production.
The underlying message of the film is presented by the repetitive use of a clip in which the Afrikaaps cast sings:
“Kom Khoi san kry terug jou land, coloureds kom van Khoi san verstand”
(Come Khoi San reclaim your land, coloureds come from Khoi San knowledge).

This documentary is essentially is the celebration and re-discovery of culture, language and heritage. As a South African, unaware of the country’s rich and complex history, Valley’s scholastic approach is eye-opening. This film is an opportunity to shift your mind set and re-educate yourself through Valley’s lens.