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'Wild Men of Kalahari' (1930) 30m, prod. C. Ernest Cadle. One of the earliest "talking pictures" shot in South-West Africa (now Namibia), this film documents the 1928 Cameron-Cadle Expedition to Africa. The cinematographer was Fred Parrish. This film was discovered in the effects of filmmaker-explorer Paul L. Hoefler after his death in 1982.
Expedition leader and narrator Dr. C. Ernest Cadle freely editorializes, describing the Kung Bushmen as "among the most treacherous creatures on earth," "baited them as we would an animal" to gather them for camera shots, and noted their eating habits ("he doesn't chew, but simply swallows like a dog").
Geoff Alexander of the Academic Film Archive of North America writes: We believe this the only print of this film in existence. Several months after we first acquired and showed this film, we were approached by a group of people involved in helping Kung people to return to their ancestral lands, taken from them by the Namibian government. The reasoning behind the original relocation was the government wished to establish Etosha National Park, remove indigenous people from its boundaries. The legal reason given was the Kung had no proof their ancestors had ever lived within the park's boundaries. Because this film shows the Kung within the areas of the park, there is value in showing it to present-day Kung, who may recognize ancestors in the film. If they do, a legal case might be made for reparations. We made a video copy of the film, brought it to Namibia, and delivered it to a Kung representative. He took it to nomadic bushmen camps in the vicinity. This project is still underway, and, understandably, remains somewhat secretive. Even if the Kung are successful, we may never know how great or little a part this film played in their achievement.
Camera: Paul L. Hoefler
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