At first glance, one might tell oneself that many white tourists to Africa explore the sacred places out of curiosity. But this documentary places us beyond a tourist impression and reveals the emergence of a new South African generation that breaks down the significant socio-cultural barriers.

The story itself is not extraordinary, but it is the context that led to its making that turns it into something totally outside of the normal. Before tackling this 50-minute long documentary, directed by the young South African Terry Westby-Nunn in 2009, one should first remember two things:
The first is that apartheid held sway in South Africa for many decades. That gave birth to a manifest difference regarding race and cultures where the blacks and whites didn't share the same religions nor the same culture.
And the second is that since 1994 when the Republic of South Africa regained its freedom, the racial and cultural disputes have not been totally erased to lead to a real forgiveness or a real socio-cultural integration between black and white South Africans.
Even if the whites and blacks legally share many things, one has to underline that the languages, the cultures and the religions are not yet totally shared. Life in the townships clearly proves that situation.

We thus cross the divide when a young white South African lets herself be initiated into the black ancestral religion and adheres to a specific spirituality based on the protection and healing centered on the devotion to the ancestors' spirits. And it is exactly there where Terry's camera takes us and for 50-minutes explores the reasons why a young white becomes a sangoma - a spiritual healer in the black Xhosa culture in South Africa.

Thanks to a mixture of reporting and interviews, the director plunges her viewers into an extraordinary cultural and religious story.

While she dreams, Sheila sees inexplicably terrible things in which blood and the ocean feature. She is afraid to sleep - fearing the dreams - and thus, does not oppose in the least the suggestion that she should become a sangoma. She changes her name and becomes Nobuyile "She who has returned" - her name, as initiate and future sangoma, is one she will carry for the rest of her life.

Sangomas, like the voodoo-adherents, practise a religion where one worships the ancestral spirits to implore protection, prosperity and healing. Its practice is essentially based on chants, spiritual songs, herbs and the blood of animals. It is practised by the blacks in South African, especially in rural areas.

The director and her team traveled 1300km to shoot the sangoma initiation ceremonies.

For the recently converted sangoma, Nobuyile, this initiation allowed her to find a certain balance in her life. "After this initiation, I found a good job as a graphic designer. I got married, which before was basically impossible. Since then, I can also say that I have mastered my body with a spiritual tranquility. To become a sangoma was the solution to my problems."

Thanks to this account by a white South African regarding black culture in South Africa, we can see a country where the acceptance of one by the other is taking root. This documentary bears witness on a new generation that is sprouting in South Africa.

The support of the family and her partner that came to help with the ceremonies is a sign that there is no resistance against the youth that are breaking down the religious, cultural and sociolinguistic barriers to create a national unity.

In the modest documentary, the director proved to make good use of the music. At each moment when one is referring to sangomas, the music used is indeed spiritual and invokes the rituals. But when the director shows their long and difficult journey to reach the place of the ceremony, the music is in tune with the challenges of the travels - here she chose Reggae, combat music!

This documentary was produced in 3 months, and in order to be unobtrusive at the ceremony was shot on a mini-DV camera. It was selected for the 30th Durban International Film Festival. After each screening, it rained questions, which just goes to show to what degree this film fascinated a diverse audience.

Espera Donouvossi