Before They Sold the Sky

Before They Sold the Sky is a moving look at how we attach narratives and memories to physical places, and the hold that those places have on us, even long after we have left them. Telling the story of director Kai Reynolds’ family history, this poetic film provides a highly personal alternative history of Cape Town over the last century, from the dark days of apartheid’s forced removals to the city’s current status as both a playground for the rich and the world’s most unequal city. Reynolds’ grandparents and great-grandparents had lived in Walmer Estate and District Six, from where they were removed by the apartheid state. In an attempt to try to understand what had been lost, the director visits the physical sites where their homes had been. As the film clearly shows, geography and cartography are about more than mere expressions of power. If we use the right tools, there is much that they can reveal.