At the Shore of the Real is an artistic research film exploring 200 years of Norwegian colonial history in South Africa and its contemporary manifestations. Inspired by pulp photo-comics popular during apartheid, this still image film straddles genre as it presents a fictional prelude to the infamous burning of Fantoft Stave church. Set in 1991, the story follows Ole Martin, a post-doc whose “fieldwork” serves as a guise for finding a missing man lost within a shadowy group confronting Norway’s colonial legacy with fire. Norwegian involvement in Zululand began around 1840 with missionaries, and later farmers. In 1908, as Nordic whales declined, a major whaling operation was established in Durban. In the 1990s, at the end of apartheid, Black Metal arrived on these same shores. What forgotten dreams linger, casting shadows on the shore?
Ray Franz (writer), Adam Williams (post-production), Anthony Morton (director)