One Table Two Elephants

A cine-ethnographic film about bushmen B-boys, a kingdom of flowers and the ghost of a young princess – and about how the inhabitants of Cape Town, from biologists to hip-hop crews, (un)consciously work to create a symbolic connection and a sense of meaning. Film as research, research as film. The two ethnographers behind this wild, vibrant and original work let textures and materials speak for themselves by taking off the glasses that from the outset divide the world into differences between us and them, nature and city, plants and other life. The film is not challenging to watch, yet rewards our intellectual adventurer several times over. 'One Table Two Elephants' is made by the two Swedish researchers Jacob von Heland and Henrik Ernstson, and invites us to experience a world which is several times bigger than the place we call Cape Town. In an eminent ploy, it integrates various forms of knowledge on an equal footing, and creates a new model for how we can talk about and understand ourselves and our surroundings.