People and place

[Phil]

From the first time that I saw it, I loved the beginning of the film ‘Dancing Yayas’. I have now watched it many, many times and each time I watch it I find something new to see and to enjoy. You move seamlessly, backwards and forwards between people and place time after time. Sometimes it is the geometry that merges and sometimes it is the texture, but in all cases you recognise that each is related to the other in an endless circle.

When I focus on this beginning, I see an overture to the rest of the film. The film is exploration of the elderly people of Uganda, but then we are challenged to lift our gaze as we move to calmness of Lake Victoria in the early morning. It is achingly beautiful.

There are other times when I watch it, that I see the universal. This doesn’t talk just to Uganda but to all of us. We are linked to the land and the land is linked to us. That is a universal truth and the introduction reinforces the intimacy of the link that is easy to forget.

This post includes a clip of the beginning of the film. However, I would urge you to look at the original film in as much detail as your internet connection can support.

[Kausar Skhan]

i showed the Uganda film to a SALT learning group in Community Engagement Centre...their learning from the documentary was very stimulating