Orania

Synopsis

Orania is situated in South Africa’s barren Northern Cape province. All of its 800 inhabitants are white Afrikaners. They live here on private property which was bought in 1991. People of other cultural or ethnical descent may not live or work here. The people of Orania refuse to take part in the post-apartheid transformation process leading to a “Rainbow Nation”. Crime, unemployment and social pressure make the inhabitants feel that their culture is under threat in the new South Africa. Consequently, they strive to stay ethnically exclusive, creating a “cultural homeland” to preserve their heritage. Yet, the individual motivations seem to range widely from idealism to opportunism to desperation. The film observes its protagonists on a personal level to explore the mechanisms behind this societal experiment.