A call to action for our modern lifestyles to change
Cape Town - After enduring two years of hard lockdown, pro surfer and environmentalist Frank Solomon journeyed from the city noise of Cape Town to the waves of sandy deserts and breath-taking grandeur to find some peace of mind among the San people.
Capturing his soul-searching journey in a short film documentary titled In Between San and Sanity, the film tells the story of how Solomon sought guidance and wisdom from the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa in order to reconnecting with himself and discover a different way of living life without modern-day comforts.
“Having basically pretty much grown up surfing and life-saving in Cape Town, I had learned everything I know about the ocean. With a hard lockdown weighing in on me, I had reached a dead end. Being stuck indoors and deprived of nature made me feel unlike myself, and I was starting to get concerned about my state of mind. I knew something had to change and that disconnecting from my screens and technology was what I needed to do, in the most humbling of settings.
“I went on this journey to honestly meet people who had survived and lived the same way for years. We were so immersed in our digital age with cellphones, technology, and cars, that meeting people who hadn’t been as affected by that was really inspiring and really interesting. I wanted to learn about them from them, and learn from their relationship with nature.
“What I found interesting was how they identified a source of water in a root. I couldn’t actually believe that they were able to do that, especially knowing that it had water, I was convinced that they wouldn’t find something to drink because I would have died. To see them find this little ball that was so full of water was incredible,” said Solomon.
The short film was shot by director Arthur Neumeier, who captured both the breath-taking grandeur of the desert and Solomon’s integration into the San people, who have lived unchanged in this environment for thousands of years.
From having experience with filming surfing and action shots, Neumeier said that the making of the film was a transformative experience for him as well.
“My repertoire includes shooting a wide variety of content for lifestyle, action sports, and outdoor brands. However, this project was very different from what both Solomon and I were used to,” he said.
“The location for this story is the Namibia desert. It is an otherworldly place filled with vast waves of sand, an oppressively open sky and strange moments of noise and deafening silence, and yet this incredible group of people have lived here for thousands of years, with a culture intact and unchanged.
“This was a more measured and contemplative process, and the team immersed themselves in the comings and goings of the San. The extension of their lives into nature was intimate, and it was also important to share the humble dignity of the San people and show how their cultural wisdom deeply moved Frank. Their message of living close to nature and being sustainable is now more than ever a call to action for our modern lifestyles to change,” said Neumeier.
As music lovers gathered to celebrate the return of the Corona Sunsets festival last week, the short film was showcased to Capetonian audiences in an outdoor cinema set up, as part of Corona Studios locally produced film that aimed to document the lives of people who left their conventional jobs to tell authentic, African stories while hoping to find the best version of themselves through their encounters and adventures.
Solomon said there were several lessons he learned from his experience.
“I think one of the life lessons is just to separate yourself from modern-day life every now and again. It might be going for a walk in the mountains, leaving your phone at home, or going for a swim.
“I think it’s easy to get sucked into this rabbit hole of Instagram, Facebook, and emails. For me, the big lesson was to learn how to set everything aside, and just go and do something that has nothing to do with technology,” said Solomon.
Weekend Argus