Royal Anthropological Institute

Director Karen Waltorp and Christian Vium
Country/Production Denmark
Release 2010
Length 54 mins
Format Colour / DVD / PAL / All region
Location South Africa / Africa
Language Afrikaans & English (English sub)
Prizes/Commendations Winner of the 2010 Basil Wright Film Prize

Order No RAI-200.361
Sale Info See Film Prices General Collection
Hire Info See Film and Video Hire

Manenberg is a coming-of-age story about two young 'Cape Coloureds' struggling to make sense in the ruins of a post-apartheid South African township. Manenberg is a suburb outside Cape Town, which was constructed during the apartheid-regime to house coloured families with low incomes. Today it is a worn-down and overpopulated ghetto-area with enormous social problems, where the chances of becoming a gangster are greater than the chances of creating something new in the ruins of the past - but it is also an area with strong ties between the inhabitants in the claustrophobic houses. Based on 5 years of ongoing anthropological research in the area, the film invites the audience behind the headlines and into the lives of Warren and Fazline and their families. It is an intimate film about coming of age amidst difficult surroundings, about families, about life and its conflicts. It is a film about everyday life and dreams of the future.

Manenberg is the debut documentary film by directors and anthropologists Karen Waltorp and Christian Vium, who have lived and done extensive research in Manenberg since 2005.