Waiting for evolution:The closer the baboons come the more we see ourselves. Are we prepared to look?

WAITING FOR EVOLUTION: THE CLOSER THE BABOONS COME, THE MORE WE SEE OURSELVES. ARE WE PREPARED TO LOOK?

Karin Slater, documentary film maker; invited member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences; Oscar awards judge T

Friday 23 January  5.00–6.30 pm  COURSE FEES R115; Staff and students R58

Waiting for Evolution is a documentary in the making that explores climate change, power and human behaviour on the tip of Africa, told through the lens of our fellow primates, baboons – one primate looking at another and asking who needs to evolve here? Using the current polarised issues around baboons in Simonstown as a microcosm of the larger issues around the world, the documentary explores how polarisation in communities happens. It also references the writings of Gladys Thomas (1968) to observe the patterns of repetition around power and oppression. Can we learn from the past? Can a species so close to us in shared DNA of 94% allow us to see ourselves from a new perspective?

After the film screening there will be an opportunity to listen to the protagonists: baboon rangers, scientists and the film maker, about their experience with baboons and the issues both face.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575463535

In 2020, Karin Slater, was invited and honoured as a lifetime member of The Academy and acts as a judge of the Oscars Documentary Branch. Her deep interest in nature has led her to documenting the lives of interesting people and wilderness areas across the globe over the last 30 years of working as a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. She’s raised two leopards and lived with a lioness, cheetahs and tigers while making wildlife documentaries. Her films have screened at Sundance, Berlinale, Hot Docs, Wildscreen, Museum of Modern Art in New York and she has won numerous awards including the Trailblazer Award for innovative and creative work in the field of documentaries at Mipdoc, Cannes 2008 and at the New York Film and Television Awards in 2016, Best Feature Length Documentary at the Innovative Film festival in Switzerland in 2019. She has been commissioned by National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC, Disney, Discovery and Al Jazeera. She’s also a published photographer, teaches the art of documentary filmmaking and currently serves as co-chair of the Documentary Filmmakers Association.