total duration variously estimated as between 240 and 405 mins., b&w, silent. 16mm, shot at 16fps
Sources : Powell-Cotton Museum, British Film Institute
Background and Content : these films were shot during an expedition to the then Portuguese colony of Angola by Diana Powell-Cotton and her younger sister, Antoinette, known as ‘Tony’. They were shooting 16mm film at 16 fps. The films are usually jointly attributed to them both, though in the British Film Institute listing, they are all erroneously attributed to their father, P.H.G. Cotton-Powell.
In the UNESCO catalogue of ethnographic films shot in sub-Saharan Africa, each of their films is given a separate entry, but here it is more convenient to present them all together. Duration times vary in accordance with the source
(1) Chokwe Potter (aka Vatchokwe Potter) 18-24 mins. Shows firing and varnishing of pots.
(2) Ganguela consists of two parts, each 12-19 mins: one shows a man making bark cloth, the other a woman preparing honey and making beer
(3) Dombondola. Contrary to the suggestion in the UNESCO catalogue, this title does not refer to an ethnic group, but rather to a village close to the Angola-Namibia border, within the territory of the Ovambo-Kuanyama. This film is also generally divided into two parts, with a total duration estimated as being between 30 and 55 minutes. The first part concerns daily life in a Dombondola household, while the second shows a woman making a small pot for brewing beer.
(4) Ovambo-Kuanyama footage. This is the most substantial part of the material, and is reported to include the following films:
- A Day in the Life of the Kuanyama (aka Kuanyama Fishing), 33 – 50 mins.
- Kuanyama Medicine Woman Initiation. 25-37 mins.
- Kuanyama Potter’s Methods (aka Pot-making, Lower Cunene River). 13 mins.
- Kuanyama Skinning and Dressing Skins. 28 mins.
- Kuanyama Mining and Smelting of Iron. 40-60 mins.
- Kuanyama Marriage Ceremonies : Efendula (aka Eve of the Efundula), 37-64 minutes. The UNESCO catalogue also mentions another 28-minute film under the title, Ceremony: preparation of costumes.
Texts : UNESCO catalogue, pp.47-49, Nicklin 1981, Castro 2016, pp.102, 104.