The Kingdom of the Netherlands and District Six Museum present film screening exploring shared histories

Three short films interrogating South Africa’s colonial past and legacy of slavery to be screened on 31 October at the Avalon Auditorium, Homecoming Centre, Cape Town

On 31 October 2025, the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa, in partnership with the District Six Museum, will host a special screening of three short films that explore South Africa’s colonial history through the lens of art, memory, and cultural resistance. The screening will take place at the Avalon Auditorium, Homecoming Centre, Cape Town, from 18:00 to 20:15. Entry is free, but seating is limited and booking is essential.

The evening forms part of the Netherlands’ #cocreateIDENTITY programme, which supports South African cultural initiatives and Dutch–South African collaborations that address identity, heritage, and transformation.

Each film offers a unique perspective on the country’s layered past and its echoes in the present:

• Whispers and Shouts(18 mins), directed by Elise Fernandez, documents the CAPE X NL: Whispers and Shouts exhibition at the Camissa Museum. This collaborative project between Dutch and South African partners engages with the legacy of Dutch slavery in the Cape through archival material, art, and public memory. The film captures the exhibition’s resonance with local audiences and its transformation into a permanent installation at the Castle of Good Hope.
• WAT WAS HIE?(30 mins), a site-specific film directed and choreographed by Luke De Kock, retraces the erasure and resistance of indigenous San and Khoi peoples. Through embodied performance and poetic reflection, the film reclaims historical spaces impacted by slavery and colonial rule, posing the haunting question: What was here?
• Fugitives(18 mins), directed by Philip du Plessis, is a documentary produced by the Biography of an Uncharted People project at Stellenbosch University. Using forensic artistry and archival records, the film reconstructs the likenesses of enslaved individuals who escaped before the abolition of slavery in 1838. The project gives visual identity to lives once rendered invisible by the historical record.

A post-screening Q&A session with the filmmakers and project collaborators will offer audiences an opportunity to engage with the creative and historical processes behind the works.