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| Welcome to African Skies. | |||||||||||
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| This site contains the catalogue of the video-archives of African Skies. The archive consists of video-documentaries and productions on the struggle against Apartheid and of the related footage. All video-material in the archive was shot during the period 1982-1994 by filmmakers connected to the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement (Dutch AAM) or independent filmmakers; in many cases the video-productions are the result of close collaboration between the ANC video-unit and the Dutch AAM. Moreover the archive contains material from the Angolan and Mozambican television and from Dutch (and to a lesser extent elsewhere broadcasted) television. You can:
A wealth of additional information: pictures, books, booklets, Hearing reports, press-cuttings and posters can be found in the library and documentation centre (bidoc) of the Netherlands institute for Southern Africa in Amsterdam: bidoc@niza.nl, www.niza.nl For further information, please contact Fons Geerlings or Maarten Rens. | |||||||||||
| More about African Skies | |||||||||||
| by chairlady Hedda van Gennep I am pleased the foundation African Skies can present its catalogue with 189 hours of historically valuable video footage and 15 edited productions about the struggle against Apartheid in the Netherlands and on the active co-operation between the Dutch Anti Apartheid Movement with the liberation movement ANC of South Africa. The archive contains a wealth of unique and mostly unknown material. The Foundation for audio-visual archives and productions on Southern Africa has been established in1995 to manage the archive of the previous Anti Apartheid Movement Netherlands /AABN. Compiling the catalogue was an important part of our aim to repatriate the visual history to the main archives in South and Southern Africa. In the past years - it took us far more time then we expected - we collected additional archival material, watched and described all the material, cleaned the old tapes, and transferred all material on digital format and made six vhs time code copies. The bulk of the material is from the period 1982 - 1994. However it has been added with material from an earlier date from the Angolan and Mozambican television. Also old footage of Dutch tv has been collected and was used in the production "Het is mooi geweest / They were Good Times" of 3 hours which roughly summarizes the material and was made at the occasion of the winding down of the AABN in 1994. Glancing through the archive is a moving experience. It shows the main campaigns of the AABN, the confrontations with politicians, the building of a mass movement. It means also leafing through the history of the ANC: watching the very first visit of ANC president Tambo to the Netherlands up to the visit of president Mandela. It means watching the numerous artists and activists presenting their case in Holland. Many became outstanding public figures but many like painter Thami Mnyele were killed during the struggle. A considerable part deals with the aggression against the frontline states in Southern Africa. In 1982 the AABN got involved in filmmaking through independent filmmaker Maarten Rens with the filming of the first main Cultural conference - the Cultural Voice of Resistance. With hindsight it meant the start of many productions which followed the core activities of the AABN. Moreover it led in 1975 to the establishment of the AABN video group and an intensive cooperation with the ANC DIP department in exile in the Zambian capital Lusaka. The video group was instrumental in assisting the ANC to establish its own Video Unit in cooperation with Victor Moche. Various productions, shot in Holland and in Southern Africa, were made together with the ANC video unit or with individual ANC members. Myself I became engaged in the filming of the ANC settlements Dakawa and Mazimbu in Tanzania in1990. The Dutch- South African-exile team included Zola Maseko who in the years to follow reused the footage in three productions. It is our strong wish to make publicly available the visual historical images in order it to be used in museums and documentaries. Through board member Fons Geerlings we visited the main archives in South Africa and Namibia and looked into the possibility to store material in Mozambique and Angola. Also we are in close touch with the ANC in South Africa and the Department of Arts and Culture in Pretoria. The catalogue has been described and compiled by Fons Geerlings in co-operation with Thomas Gesthuizen (who was also responsible together with Maarten Rens for the cleaning and copying of the archive) and Azim Koning. The project could be realized thanks to financial contributions of: Prince Claus Foundation, Netherlands Hivos - Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, Netherlands Netherlands Embassy in Pretoria / The Dutch Ministry of Culture ThuisKopie Fonds, Netherlands We hope and trust that our work will stimulate to organize international symposiums with independent filmmakers who worked in Southern Africa during the liberation struggle period and whose material is yet undisclosed or not available. Together with representatives of audio-visual archives in Southern Africa it could be discussed how to preserve, handle and where to store the material. Amsterdam, June 2003 | |||||||||||