The Wooden Camera

Kayelitsha, South-Africa, today. 2003 A township, close to Cape-town, after the end of Apartheid. Two kids, 14, Madiba and Sipho play along the railway. A train passes by. A dead man rolls to their feet. On him, they find a gun and a video camera. Sipho takes the gun and Madiba the camera. Their destiny is sealed. Benny, their friend makes a wooden camera and Madiba hides the video inside, in order to avoid embarrassing questions, racketing etc. He starts filming the township and its inhabitants. He discovers the strange beauty of his life’s setting. Sipho, the boss, brings his friends to Cape-town, the white city, so close, so far, so exotic to the eyes of the children. While Sipho forms a gang with the street children and makes all kinds of illicit trading, Madiba films the town, its huge buildings, its business life, and its luxury. In a bookstore, he films a young white girl, stealing a book… —IMDb