The documentary film “Ons Is Wat Ons Is / We Are What We Are” was made for Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.
It focuses on Artscape’s Outreach Programme, which takes performing arts to small towns in the Western Cape province.
In this film, the town is Mamre where an organisation, Lief en Leed, works to empower persons living with disabilities. Artscape Theatre supports this organisation with its fundraising efforts towards building a centre of excellence for persons with disabilities.
This documentary film was made for The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), based in Cape Town. Its focuses on the IJR’s Women’s Election Mechanism for Peace (WEMP) programme to “promote peaceful and inclusive elections in South Africa”.
The IJR states: “WEMP seeks to enhance women’s participation in both the electoral process and conflict prevention. WEMP also recognises that women are under-represented in leadership, especially in politics and its processes.
“Empowering women in communities to participate as monitors and advocates is an opportunity to be involved and a springboard to future leadership roles. WEMP has successfully trained 300 Peace Monitors with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). These monitors will be deployed across five provinces: Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal.”
‘Kramat Festival’ is a 15-minute documentary film, sharing the history and views about an annual gathering of Cape Town’s Muslim community at the shrine of Sheikh Yusuf from Makassar in Indonesia and known for bringing Islam to the Cape.
Sheikh Yusuf was detained by Dutch colonisers for resisting their occupation in his homeland. After being banned to the Cape, he taught Islam, which is still alive in modern-day South Africa.
He is buried in a small town called Macassar, 45-minutes outside of central Cape Town, which is named after Makassar. Muslims from different parts of the world still visit the kramat, or shrine, where he is buried.
Copyright: Yazeed Kamaldien (2025)
As protests around the world continue to condemn Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, Cape Town residents paint murals in support for Palestine. This leads to a conflict with the local government, City of Cape Town.
Locals accuse their government of using politics to prevent them from painting Palestine murals. City officials deny this accusation, saying locals should obey the law. Palestinians meanwhile visit Cape Town for various public gatherings, including a soccer tournament and public protests to the South African parliament.
In this film, it all comes together over a year of what many have called a genocide against Palestinians.
Copyright: Yazeed Kamaldien (2024)