''The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman'' is a

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

South African

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Zola Maseko Zola Maseko (born 1967) is a Swazi film director and screenwriter. He is noted for his documentary films related to xenophobia. Biography Maseko was born in exile in 1967 and educated in Swaziland (now Eswatini) and Tanzania. After moving to the ...

Synopsis

The film concerns a woman named

Sarah Baartman Sarah Baartman (; 1789– 29 December 1815), also spelt Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje (), or Saartjie, and Bartman, Bartmann, was a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the n ...

during colonial times. Set between 1810 and 1815, the documentary relates the true story of a 20-year-old woman travelling to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. A member of the

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

people, the woman was exhibited as a freak across England and became known as the Hottentot Venus. An abolitionist group unsuccessfully sued to free her from the exhibitionists. Baartman was taken to France in 1814 and from then on became a subject of scientific investigation. Even after her death the following year, she became a symbol for African cultural inferiority and her sex organs and brain were displayed at the Musee de l'Homme until 1985.

Production

Zola Maseko travelled to Paris to look at a plaster cast of Baartman's body at the Musee de l'Homme. In order to not replicate the objectification that the woman herself experienced, he decided not to film the cast in the nude. Instead, Maseko persuaded an African museum worker to let him use her robe to help keep some dignity for Baartman. Maseko worked on the film for seven years.

Release and reception

The film was critically acclaimed. It garnered many awards including Best African Documentary, 1999 at the

Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It ...

(FESPACO), Best Documentary at the 1999

Milan African Film Festival Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has ...

and an award at the 2001

African Literature Association Conference Film Festival African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

. Writing in the journal H-AfriLitCine, Miriam Ma'at-Ka-Re Monges called it "an excellent film" and said she "would recommend that it be made a part of the video library of African, African-American and Women's Studies programs." Keith Shiri of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

wrote, "This powerful documentary is only the second film from this young South African filmmaker and heralds the emergence of an exceptionally talented filmmaker." Jane Bryce of the African Studies Review Journal wrote, "Maseko’s film makes its case with poignancy and compassion; imaginative use of historical documents and artistic representations, in-depth research and a wide range of contemporary expert opinion."

References

External links

The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life and Times of Sarah Baartman 1998 films 1998 documentary films Documentary films about immigration to Europe 1990s English-language films