Project Detail

Liliesleaf Farm Mayibuye: In Search of the Spectres of History

Synopsis

Using double screen, the filmmaker juxtaposes her domestic family history with that of Nelson Mandela prior to his arrest. The artist considers the roles that personal and political histories play in opening up the narratives of a place.
Liliesleaf Farm, located in Rivonia South Africa, was the headquarters of the military wing of the African National Congress, (‘Umkhonto we Sizwe') in the early 1960s. Nelson Mandela lived at Liliesleaf under an alias. ‘Operation Mayibuye’ was an ANC undercover campaign of sabotage intended to bring down the apartheid government.
Ideas for the film originated with 8mm film footage and photographs of
Gaal-Holmes’ immigrant family at Liliesleaf. Her German and Hungarian parents had recently moved to settle in South Africa, and Liliesleaf became their family home for a short time in the late 1960s.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2016 - Experimenta Strand - World premiere

Details

Year
2016
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
10 mins
Format
8mm, 16mm
Director
Patti Gaal-Holmes
Editor
Patti Gaal-Holmes
Screenwriter
Patti Gaal-Holmes
Composer
Emily Barker
Archival Material
Gaál family archive and Liliesleaf Museum

Production Status

Production Company

UK, South Africa coproduction

Supported by Arts Council England and residencies at the Hosking Houses

Trust (UK) and the Nirox Foundation (South Africa).

Itinerant Films

Patti Gaal-Holmes

Sales Company

c/o Itinerant Films

Patti Gaal-Holmes

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A 3d printed of a female duet displayed in a vitrine in front of a projection of a digital image of the split second of the duet captured in photogrametry Loss.y

Director: Lisa Jamhoury

Year: 2026

Situated at the physical-virtual threshold, loss·y memorializes corporeal passing and digital rebirth. The work intertwines animated sculptural “dances” with interactive spatial audio, inviting audiences to navigate invisible thresholds as they move. loss·y presents three split-seconds of a motion-captured female-female pas de deux: each moment is suspended in a vignette that overlaps projection and 3D prints encapsulating the dance in sculpture, with spoken-word poetry and spatial sound design. The installation’s audioscapes blend cold technical facts, accounts of digital dysmorphia and surveillance, and computer-generated sampling, creating an elegy to the vital body that is at once human and digital. On its surface a critique of today’s techno-society, loss·y collusively takes up digital reduction and surveillance as creative media, revealing reverence for the uncanny wonder that pulls us forward into our new, hybridized world. Official Selection SXSW 2026

An Immersive Theatre / XR image of a courtroom with large television amongst a wraparound screen with scenes of humanity GAWD v. The People

Director: Yamil Rodriguez, Ivan Alejandro Diaz Cardenas, Stephen Henderson

Year: 2026

In GAWD V. THE PEOPLE, the audience is part of the court, it’s an AI-led tribunal where humanity is on trial for the right to remain on Earth. Volunteer audience members become witnesses aided by agentic legal aids as we defend our continued existence against Nonhumans testifying against human impact. Surrounding projection environments and evolving courtroom visuals transform the space to reflect the trial as evidence accumulates. Presided over by a darkly humorous Judge, GAWD, each performance culminates with an improvised verdict on humanity's survival and what the conditional terms will be. Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2026 - Immersive Competition - World premiere

Calling You Calling You

Director: Daniel Howard-Baker

Year: 2026

After a middle-aged father falls mysteriously into a coma that transports him to an idealised version of his past, his daughter must do all things necessary to rescue him from an eternal trap.