In July 2005, 140 women from the tiny Eastern Cape village of Hamburg presented South Africa with the most complex altar piece ever produced in Africa. The 3 meter high multi-media artwork pays homage to their fight against Aids and celebrates the human capacity to overcome hardships. Keiskamma is the story of this unusual rural village on the banks of the Keiskamma River, as told through the lives of our central characters. A controversial doctor, Carol Baker, takes us in her rattling pick-up, as she treats countless patients, learns to love the rebellious Aids orphan, Nkululeko, finds support in the motherly shape of Eunice, and inspires the women from the village to create the altar piece.

In the tiny Eastern Cape hamlet of Hamburg a fully-fledged war is being fought. Grandmothers, the hospice and the good doctor Carol are fighting for hope, human dignity and the will to live. The women's faithful fight to give to keep their community fit and on ARVs has been manifest in an incredible altarpiece, painstakingly sewn by 130 members.
This sensitive and studied portrait relays the strength, passion, tears and laughter of the wonderful characters in the altarpiece: the gogo Eunice who is such an essential figure in the hospice that she forgets to look after herself, the musician/prophet that runs designs into the sand, the doctor constantly checking that her patients have taken their medicine, and the lost boy searching to find his place in the world.

Dir: Miki Redelinghuys

2007, South Africa, 90mins, Doc


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WORLD PREMIÈRE: 9th edition of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival | Johannesburg, 13 - 22 July 2007 | Cape Town, 20 July - 5 August 2007 |
* Selection (Category: South Africa)