SPIRITS OF AFRICA
our mission
| All over Africa, traditional healers and their ancient knowledge of nature and spirituality are disappearing fast. It is our mission to record and preserve their knowledge and ceremonies before they disappear forever. Each African people has its own unique spiritual rituals and we are creating a continually growing library which documents and preserves them. The Spirits of Africa project centres on a website which provides access to the material in the form of short films, photography, and text. The films, which are 10 to 15 minutes long, record the ritual itself but also include conversations with the shamans about the religion of their people and their concept of religion and spirituality. |
picture from our Venda film |
| The project is intended to safeguard this spiritual heritage for Africans of future generations and also to make it available to all others in the west and elsewhere in search of their spiritual roots. We also aim to offer the films (separately or as longer feature documentaries) to television, festivals, museums and so on. The film material and photography will be available for viewing on the website. A book (to be developed into a series) will be published, and we are also planning a photo book, both in cooperation with Holland's foremost non-fiction publisher Uitgeverij Balans/De Bezige Bij. |
picture from our San film |
| Every one who is interested in the project is invited to participate, either in the form of a donation or as an active member. All donors become part owners of the project and its library and can participate in one or more of the film expeditions that Spirits of Africa will organise in the years to come. The Spirits of Africa project was founded by filmmaker and author Ton van der Lee, who comes from the Netherlands but has lived and worked in Africa for many years. He is a long time film producer, has directed a number of full length documentaries for television about Africa and published eight books about the continent. |
picture from our Tswana film |
Our first four expeditions in 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been completed succesfully and the films can be viewed via this website or directly on our Youtube Channel. More video's will be online soon. If you want more information, please email to: ton@tonvanderlee.nl or go to www.tonvanderlee.nl Courtesy San photography: Jeffrey Barbee |
picture from our Zulu film |
our mission - the san - the venda - the tswana - the zulu - future expeditions - watch the films - participate - contact |
