![Placeholder](/photos/picture.avif)
Tessa Barlin
Director
© Tessa Barlin
Moderated
The Ju|’hoansi people are one of over 30 dialects of indigenous San people who hold the precious wisdom of over 60 000 years. But now, they find themselves at a crossroad in time—stuck between the old world and the new.
2024
Documentary
Short Film
South Africa, Botswana
English
2024/06/23
25 minutes
Finished
Encounters International Documentary Film Festival
The films explores the life of the Ju/’hoansi people, one of the last remaining Khoi-San tribes, as 60 000 years’ worth of wisdom faces the threat of disappearance through modernisation. By following the journeys of different members of the Ju/’hoansi tribe as they navigate preserving their identity and traditions, Fading Footprints casts a light onto these ancient practices in the face of modern lifestyles, politics and social conforms. The film is an invitation to understand the significance of preserving and practising traditions, offering a personal and authentic view into culture and freedom, while celebrating the traditional values held by the Ju/’hoansi tribe. In the age of modernism, post-colonialism and capitalism, Fading Footprints documents how the indigenous knowledge, customs, and languages of the Ju/’hoansi tribe are vulnerable to being lost forever.