Wagtale

“Stories are Equipment for Living”
Kenneth Burke. Wagtale is a story-company. We specialize in weaving together meaning through films.

We pay attention to the subtleties, the tiniest particulars, the hidden details, and the silences that often speak louder than words. We valorize responsibility and sensitivity, whilst striving for innovative mechanisms with which to tell stories. Started in 2015 by Jonathan Cornelius and Timothy Gabb, Wagtale has a unique voice in that it’s a conceptually-driven entity that approaches all facets

of filmmaking in a multifarious manner: we are writers, directors, shooters, editors, animators, designers and sensitive human beings who live in this world, alert and alive. We realise the project from conception to delivery, and understand it from this encompassing perspective. We make independent, character-driven documentaries, NGO documentaries, as well as commercial, travel and tourism films for the online environment. We offer our services to clients who need to stand out against the vast oceans of online content.

19/09/2024

Meet master tracker /Ui /Kxunta and his student Tsamma Bo

/Ui is a master tracker living in Nyae Nyae. He is one of the best known trackers and hunters in the Nyae Nyae conservancy, and is world renowned for his tracking knowledge.

/Ui is especially concerned about the transfer of tracking skills from the elders to the youth, which has been in steady decline.

“Every boy was supposed to be a hunter, they must learn how to hunt. By learning from their father, their uncles and brothers, they must become hunters! But all I see these days is the youth drinking a lot of alcohol.

“I spent three years teaching my nephew Tsamma how to hunt and track, and now when I join him in the bush, he’s extremely good at tracking and hunting! If he keeps going out everyday, he will become a master at tracking and hunting.”

Watch “The Healers and Hunters of Nyae Nyae” to find out more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1nPHBJRR0s

16/09/2024

Meet G/aqo Kaegce and his student Kxao Kha//’an

G/aqo is the last remaining Ju/’hoansi healer in the Tsumkwe area. Kxao is his student, and one of the only youth training to be a healer.

G/aqo tells us why the continuity is essential:

“All the other healers died, so now I am the only healer left. For now I’ll continue with healing people and teaching the younger generation, because I am getting old now.

“To be a healer is very important, the people need a healer because there are spiritual illnesses that the western doctors can’t heal.

“When the women sing and clap loudly, then I go into trance, and the ancestors tell me what’s coming.

“When the spiritual energies are low and the people are spiritually closed, I’m the only one who can see through it and open them up to their ancestors again.”

Watch “The Healers and Hunters of Nyae Nyae” on our website to find out more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1nPHBJRR0s

11/09/2024

Meet ǂOma Leon Tsamkxao

Leon lives in Nyae Nyae Conservancy, eastern Namibia, in a San run wilderness area managed by the Ju/’hoansi communities who have lived there for thousands of years.

His father, Tsamkxao ǂOma, otherwise known as Chief Bobo, is the Chief of the Ju/’hoansi and a revered elder in the community.

Leon tells us: “This is the only conservancy whereby the members of the conservancy can still hunt, but only the traditional way. When they use their bows and arrows.”

But things are changing very quickly for the Ju/’hoansi of Nyae Nyae.

Leon explains: “In the past it was like, people were almost hunting every day, and the healing system was very strong because at that stage we were having a lot of healers. And when somebody is sick, the healers all come together to heal the person. And the hunting was so good!

"Slowly, in the eighties, nineties, after independence, everything has changed.”

Today, tragically, there is only one healer left in Nyae Nyae, with the transfer of traditional knowledge and culture in a steady decline.

Watch “The Healers and Hunters of Nyae Nyae” to find out more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1nPHBJRR0s

Want to visit Nyae Nyae? Leon is also a tour guide, so be sure to get in touch with him!

09/09/2024

Feel like watching some local documentaries?

Browse our website and see if any catch your fancy...

Documentary Films help us shed a light on the world and how it works. We believe that good documentary films create real world impact, giving meaning to the world around us. Whether character- or issue-based, we strive to craft a well-told, emotive and cinematic story, with a touch of the cosmic.

03/04/2024

We're very proud to release our latest documentary for CGTN Africa's Faces of Africa series, in collaboration with StoryScope.

The film chronicles the last Ju/'hoansi hunters and healers of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Namibia (the only conservancy that still allows San to hunt on their land), and explores how these elders attempt to transfer their ancient knowledge to the few youth still interested in their culture.

We'd like to dedicate this film to an amazing director and mentor to us at Wagtale, Richard Wicksteed, whose untimely passing has left us extremely shocked and saddened.

We first visited Nyae Nyae whilst working on a project with Richard, and so wish he was able to see this film.

Since the 1970s, the San or Ju/’hoansi people have been displaced from their ancestral land in Namibia by imperial governments. Now living under conservancie...

Address

Muizenberg
Cape Town

Website

http://www.wagtale.co.za/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wagtale posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Wagtale:

Shortcuts

Our Story

Film and Animation Services, Cape Town, South Africa Wagtale is a story-company. We specialise in branded storytelling, producing documentaries, travel and tourism promotional films and animation.

Animation especially is a key tool for telling stories during these trying times, whether it’s an explainer for your new online ordering process, or messages of hope and inspiration to your online audiences, animation is a limitless medium for telling digital remote stories.