In Search Of Southern Africa

How much do we know about Southern Africa? It conjures up shrubs, safari, large mammals like the elephant and the lion, a diamond craze, a pioneer spirit, colonialism and crime, apartheid and poverty. In this five-part road movie we will encounter people from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana to look and listen to what they have to tell us about their everyday life. We want to find out what their stories are like behind all the news reports, and among their societies. What makes them happy, what are they afraid of? What do they eat and buy, where do they work, how do they love and grieve? What influence will the upcoming World Cup soccer championship have on this region? The three countries we travel through are economically closely connected and dependent on each other, but at the same time proclaim their political self-reliance. Three neighbours connected by asphalt arteries measuring thousands of kilometres – it is one of the most ambitious development projects in southern Africa with the aim of creating places where people may enjoy communication and meet freely. Three countries that profit from transnational tourism and have enormous mineral resources at their disposal. This film leads to the origins of mankind through scenes of breathtaking nature, along endless coasts and beaches, through the desert – and yet it is always intimate when meeting Southern Africans along the way.

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