26 mins. SABC Documentary. Produced by: T'omas Films. Directed by Bridget Thompson.

TOPICS:

USES: U, G, A, V

CRITIQUE:
This documentary was produced to coincide with a major retrospective exhibition of artist Ernest Mancobe, held at Cape Town's South African National Art Gallery in 1995. Generally conservative in its style, the effect is nevertheless riveting. A quiet and subdued presentation unfolds into a perfectly remarkable history of one person's striving to realize his unique talents. That this needed exile and a lifelong family separation to succeed adds massive impact to the reunions made possible by the events of 1994. The documentary's development from initial reviews of the artist's work to a personal history of struggle and the choices involved in pursuing this, wrenches one from the comfort of high-cultural aesthetics into a world that many believe ended with Van Gogh a century ago. Ernest Mancoba at Home is a film about an event which could never have occurred before 1994, told in a way that matches the dynamics of South Africa's new approach to television.

(Written by Arnold Shepperson, 1997)