One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1)

Jacob von Heland; Henrik Ernstson

One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1)

Jacob von Heland, Henrik Ernstson

Geography

Royal Institute of Technology

Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products

105 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

"One Table Two Elephants" (Documentary film, cinematic ethnography, 84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1). World Premiere In Competition at CPH:DOX 2018 20th March 2018; Official selection at InScience Science Festival, African Premier In Competition at Cape Town International Film Festival 2018, In Competition Tirana International Film Festival 2018. Created in collaboration by Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Produced by KTH EHL, African Centre for Cities, UCT, with support from the Swedish Research Council Formas.
SYNOPSIS: This is a film about bushmen bboys, a flower kingdom and the ghost of a princess. Entering the city through its plants and wetlands, the many-layered, painful and liberating history of the city emerges as we see how biologists, hip hoppers, and wetland activists each searches for ways to craft symbols of unity and cohesion. But this is a fraught and difficult task. Perhaps not even desirable. Plants, aliens, memories and ghosts keep troubling efforts of weaving stories about this place called Cape Town. Situated and grounded in lived experiences across a range of groups, this film follows different ways of knowing and tries to be a vehicle toward difficult yet urgently needed conversations about how race, nature and the city are intertwined in our postcolonial world where history is ever present in subtle and direct ways. This cinematic ethnography brings texture to understand a city like Cape Town, while providing possibilities to translate what is happening “there” to conversations about any city and its surroundings.Created by (i.e., Direction/Production/Manuscript): Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Cinematography: Johan von Reybekiel. Sound: Jonathan Chiles. Editing: Jacob von Heland. Assistant Editing: Henrik Ernstson. Sound Design and Mix: Jakob Oldenburg. Production Coordination: Jessica Rattle and Nceba Mangesi. Color grade: Johan von Reybekiel. Original Music: Louise Becker. Graphic Design: Erik Hartin.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Stockholm
Publisher	KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Media of output	Film
Size	84 minutes
Publication status	Published - 18 Mar 2018
Event	Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival : Nordic Dox Award (World Premiere 20 March 2018) - Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Duration: 12 Mar 2018 → 25 Mar 2018 http://bit.ly/1T2E-CPHDOX

Keywords

postcolonial
urban political ecology
conservation biology
Urban studies
environmental studies
Human Geography

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

Global inequalities
Manchester Environmental Research Institute

Access to Document

One Table Two Elephants (2018, 84 min) - Synopsis of cinematic ethnographyFinal published version, 2 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1)",

abstract = "{"}One Table Two Elephants{"} (Documentary film, cinematic ethnography, 84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1). World Premiere In Competition at CPH:DOX 2018 20th March 2018; Official selection at InScience Science Festival, African Premier In Competition at Cape Town International Film Festival 2018, In Competition Tirana International Film Festival 2018. Created in collaboration by Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Produced by KTH EHL, African Centre for Cities, UCT, with support from the Swedish Research Council Formas. SYNOPSIS: This is a film about bushmen bboys, a flower kingdom and the ghost of a princess. Entering the city through its plants and wetlands, the many-layered, painful and liberating history of the city emerges as we see how biologists, hip hoppers, and wetland activists each searches for ways to craft symbols of unity and cohesion. But this is a fraught and difficult task. Perhaps not even desirable. Plants, aliens, memories and ghosts keep troubling efforts of weaving stories about this place called Cape Town. Situated and grounded in lived experiences across a range of groups, this film follows different ways of knowing and tries to be a vehicle toward difficult yet urgently needed conversations about how race, nature and the city are intertwined in our postcolonial world where history is ever present in subtle and direct ways. This cinematic ethnography brings texture to understand a city like Cape Town, while providing possibilities to translate what is happening “there” to conversations about any city and its surroundings.Created by (i.e., Direction/Production/Manuscript): Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Cinematography: Johan von Reybekiel. Sound: Jonathan Chiles. Editing: Jacob von Heland. Assistant Editing: Henrik Ernstson. Sound Design and Mix: Jakob Oldenburg. Production Coordination: Jessica Rattle and Nceba Mangesi. Color grade: Johan von Reybekiel. Original Music: Louise Becker. Graphic Design: Erik Hartin. ",

keywords = "postcolonial, urban political ecology, conservation biology, Urban studies, environmental studies, Human Geography",

author = "{von Heland}, Jacob and Henrik Ernstson",

note = "This film is like a monograph, a book, in terms of its value as a scientific output. It is based on long-term ethnographic work in Cape Town, South Africa, that lead to the development of this film which we call a {"}cinematic ethnography{"} for how it situates nature, history and knowledge in a postcolonial society and city. It will be released for the public via digital platforms from January 2020. {"}One Table Two Elephants{"} (84 min, 2018) is a cinematic ethnography created by Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson and deals with race, nature and knowledge politics in the postcolonial city (Official trailer here.). The film has been nominated to several prizes and screened at film festivals in: Copenhagen, Cape Town, Tirana, Nijmegen and Stockholm. Accolades: Nominated to Nordic Dox Award with World Premiere at CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, March 2018. Nominated to Best Documentary Feature with African Premiere at Cape Town International Film Festival (CTIF&MF), October 2018. Nominated as Best International Documentary at Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF), November 2018. Official selection at InScience International Science Film Festival in Nijmegen in November 2018 Official selection and Swedish premiere at CrossCuts Film Festival for the Environmental Humanities in Stockholm, November 2018. It has been been seen by up to 1000 persons in theatres and lecture halls as of Jan 2019.; Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival<br class={"}Apple-interchange-newline{"} style={"}font-family: -webkit-standard;{"}/> : Nordic Dox Award (World Premiere 20 March 2018), CPHDOX ; Conference date: 12-03-2018 Through 25-03-2018",

year = "2018",

month = mar,

day = "18",

language = "English",

publisher = "KTH Royal Institute of Technology",

address = "Sweden",

url = "http://bit.ly/1T2E-CPHDOX",

}

One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1). von Heland, Jacob (Author); Ernstson, Henrik (Author). 2018. Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyEvent: Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"/>, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products

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N1 - This film is like a monograph, a book, in terms of its value as a scientific output. It is based on long-term ethnographic work in Cape Town, South Africa, that lead to the development of this film which we call a "cinematic ethnography" for how it situates nature, history and knowledge in a postcolonial society and city. It will be released for the public via digital platforms from January 2020. "One Table Two Elephants" (84 min, 2018) is a cinematic ethnography created by Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson and deals with race, nature and knowledge politics in the postcolonial city (Official trailer here.). The film has been nominated to several prizes and screened at film festivals in: Copenhagen, Cape Town, Tirana, Nijmegen and Stockholm. Accolades: Nominated to Nordic Dox Award with World Premiere at CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, March 2018. Nominated to Best Documentary Feature with African Premiere at Cape Town International Film Festival (CTIF&MF), October 2018. Nominated as Best International Documentary at Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF), November 2018. Official selection at InScience International Science Film Festival in Nijmegen in November 2018 Official selection and Swedish premiere at CrossCuts Film Festival for the Environmental Humanities in Stockholm, November 2018. It has been been seen by up to 1000 persons in theatres and lecture halls as of Jan 2019.

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AB - "One Table Two Elephants" (Documentary film, cinematic ethnography, 84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1). World Premiere In Competition at CPH:DOX 2018 20th March 2018; Official selection at InScience Science Festival, African Premier In Competition at Cape Town International Film Festival 2018, In Competition Tirana International Film Festival 2018. Created in collaboration by Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Produced by KTH EHL, African Centre for Cities, UCT, with support from the Swedish Research Council Formas. SYNOPSIS: This is a film about bushmen bboys, a flower kingdom and the ghost of a princess. Entering the city through its plants and wetlands, the many-layered, painful and liberating history of the city emerges as we see how biologists, hip hoppers, and wetland activists each searches for ways to craft symbols of unity and cohesion. But this is a fraught and difficult task. Perhaps not even desirable. Plants, aliens, memories and ghosts keep troubling efforts of weaving stories about this place called Cape Town. Situated and grounded in lived experiences across a range of groups, this film follows different ways of knowing and tries to be a vehicle toward difficult yet urgently needed conversations about how race, nature and the city are intertwined in our postcolonial world where history is ever present in subtle and direct ways. This cinematic ethnography brings texture to understand a city like Cape Town, while providing possibilities to translate what is happening “there” to conversations about any city and its surroundings.Created by (i.e., Direction/Production/Manuscript): Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson. Cinematography: Johan von Reybekiel. Sound: Jonathan Chiles. Editing: Jacob von Heland. Assistant Editing: Henrik Ernstson. Sound Design and Mix: Jakob Oldenburg. Production Coordination: Jessica Rattle and Nceba Mangesi. Color grade: Johan von Reybekiel. Original Music: Louise Becker. Graphic Design: Erik Hartin.

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KW - urban political ecology

KW - conservation biology

KW - Urban studies

KW - environmental studies

KW - Human Geography

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ER -

One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1)

Abstract

Keywords

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Ruptured times: Advances in visual environmental humanities

Imperial Remains and Imperial Invitations: Centering Race within the Contemporary Large-Scale Infrastructures of East Africa

Post-apartheid ecologies in the City of Cape Town: An examination of plant functional traits in relation to urban gradients

Re-thinking Urban Natural Resource Management through Multiple Ways of Knowing (WOK-UE; 8.7MSEK; €840k)

Towards a Visual Environmental Humanities in the Digital Era: Filming & Writing as Bimodal Research Practice” (VEH; 3MSEK; €290k)

Cite this

One Table Two Elephants: A cinematic ethnography about race, nature and ways of knowing the postcolonial city (84 minutes, Color, HD, Dolby 5:1)

Abstract

Keywords

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Research output

Ruptured times: Advances in visual environmental humanities

Imperial Remains and Imperial Invitations: Centering Race within the Contemporary Large-Scale Infrastructures of East Africa

Post-apartheid ecologies in the City of Cape Town: An examination of plant functional traits in relation to urban gradients

Prizes

Re-thinking Urban Natural Resource Management through Multiple Ways of Knowing (WOK-UE; 8.7MSEK; €840k)

Towards a Visual Environmental Humanities in the Digital Era: Filming & Writing as Bimodal Research Practice” (VEH; 3MSEK; €290k)

Cite this