DAY OF RECONCILIATION

Filmed with a cell phone on Reconciliation Day, 16th December 2011, this video forms part of the project  Life under Democracy - “A salient documentary that invests in the smaller moments of daily life, featuring intimate and ‘un-canned’ images of South Africans as they reflect on two decades of their hard earned liberation.”

Standing six meters tall and weighting 2.5 tons, the bronzed Nelson Mandela statue located in the Sandon City Shopping Centre was unveiled in March 2003. More than a million people visit the the European-styled piazza every month - the sculpture attracts constant interaction as local shoppers and tourists take advantage of the countless ‘I was here’ photo opportunities the iconic attraction provides.

This constant movement in the square is the visual backdrop to an audio overlay of radio broadcasts and live protest recordings, logged over a period of two years. As the dial moves from one station to the next, we hear an array of talk-show banter - as callers reveal their personal experiences of South Africa’s young democracy. From news broadcasts to advertising jingles, familiar political voices also join in -  former President F.W. de Klerk talks of his first impressions after meeting with Madiba, while EFF leader Julius Malema warns ‘The road ahead of us is going to be very long’.   Duration: 12min 10sec