COMING SOON
Die Kinders en die Water-Oksel (II)
A 35min storytelling film in collaboration with Lydia Rood of Marken and Oom Klaas van Zyl of Brandvlei...
Die Kinders en die Water-Oksel (II)
A 35min storytelling film in collaboration with Lydia Rood of Marken and Oom Klaas van Zyl of Brandvlei...
2026
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Oorkant, traveling stories and tongues
Lecture and storytelling performance shared at the Convocation III gathering in Vienna for languaged-based artsitic research.
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/835089/467008
Lecture and storytelling performance shared at the Convocation III gathering in Vienna for languaged-based artsitic research.
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/835089/467008
2026
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Die Kinders en die Water-oksel (short)
An experiment in translocation and translation, this short is part of the process of an ongoing project exploring a genre of speculative folktales and storytelling between South Africa and the Netherlands
An experiment in translocation and translation, this short is part of the process of an ongoing project exploring a genre of speculative folktales and storytelling between South Africa and the Netherlands
2025
But it is called Riversong
But it is called Riversong is a feature-length documentary, which serves as an alternative edit of my 2023 series of short films, that which the wind intends (see below).
It is now publically available to watch in full on vimeo.
But it is called Riversong is a feature-length documentary, which serves as an alternative edit of my 2023 series of short films, that which the wind intends (see below).
It is now publically available to watch in full on vimeo.
2024
that which the wind intends
A series of video essays exploring events from the filmmaker’s childhood on a holiday farm in the Bokkeveld mountains in South Africa- a place which, for many, is ahistorical. The investigation is informed by fragments history from a different landscape, |xam-ka !au, which is brought to life by an archive of stories told by |xam people who were living there in the 1860’s.
“ 'How to belong in this place that is so full of contradictions’ is the quest that brought Palou Buckland back to the farm Riversong in the Bokkeveld, South Africa, where he grew up, and to |xam-ka !au, the land where the |xam San people lived, to create a new body of work consisting of a series of videos titled that which the wind intends. Through performative actions in the landscape, interviews with people that work and live there and sharing fragments of (his)stories of the |xam people, Buckland connects past, present, and future, creating echoes between events across different times and places. As the camera actively moves through the beautiful landscapes, the reflective voiceover reveals layers of the violent colonial past and its impact on the present, like strata in the rocks and sediment of the mountains and ‘koppies’ captured. History repeats itself. The violence that the |xam suffered at the hands of the Dutch and British colonizers echoes in the abuse of power and precarious lives of the Noorman family. Much remains unresolved, as past and present injustices and inequalities that the videos bring to the surface to digest, are hard to grasp, hard to put into words and hard to change. In fact they remain indigestible. Yet, Buckland’s body of work does offer a glimmer of hope, as the videos also create echoes of resistance and compassion. Moral actions, even when few and far between, and shared values also repeat themselves, and may inspire present and future generations. “
Text by Judith Westerveld.
A series of video essays exploring events from the filmmaker’s childhood on a holiday farm in the Bokkeveld mountains in South Africa- a place which, for many, is ahistorical. The investigation is informed by fragments history from a different landscape, |xam-ka !au, which is brought to life by an archive of stories told by |xam people who were living there in the 1860’s.
“ 'How to belong in this place that is so full of contradictions’ is the quest that brought Palou Buckland back to the farm Riversong in the Bokkeveld, South Africa, where he grew up, and to |xam-ka !au, the land where the |xam San people lived, to create a new body of work consisting of a series of videos titled that which the wind intends. Through performative actions in the landscape, interviews with people that work and live there and sharing fragments of (his)stories of the |xam people, Buckland connects past, present, and future, creating echoes between events across different times and places. As the camera actively moves through the beautiful landscapes, the reflective voiceover reveals layers of the violent colonial past and its impact on the present, like strata in the rocks and sediment of the mountains and ‘koppies’ captured. History repeats itself. The violence that the |xam suffered at the hands of the Dutch and British colonizers echoes in the abuse of power and precarious lives of the Noorman family. Much remains unresolved, as past and present injustices and inequalities that the videos bring to the surface to digest, are hard to grasp, hard to put into words and hard to change. In fact they remain indigestible. Yet, Buckland’s body of work does offer a glimmer of hope, as the videos also create echoes of resistance and compassion. Moral actions, even when few and far between, and shared values also repeat themselves, and may inspire present and future generations. “
Text by Judith Westerveld.
2023
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