THE CONGO
A Documentary
This gritty 20 minute documentary (filmed during Paul Augustinus first rain forest foray to the Congo basin in 1996) is an evocative depiction of what rain forest foot safaris actually involve. This was an epic undertaking that cost as much to finance as it would have cost to buy the beachfront Durban flat they were living in at the time. The documentary is presented here in two parts to stay within the limits of You Tube specifications.
There are several interesting back stories not mentioned in the documentary. One of these was that at the end of their Congo stay Paul and Clarissa were detained in a filthy Dickensian office block prior to
departure from Ouesso in northern Congo,
by officials from the Eau et Forét (the
Congolese government
department that was in charge of all
forest and
wa
ter resources). They were questioned for
several hours by an
official
in a dingy poorly lit office, an un holstered 9mm pistol pointedly laid on the desk in front of
them. After Paul refused to sign a document which acknowledged a transgression of Congolese law
(one which the officials refused to explain or elaborate upon) they were forced to leave the Congo leaving behind with the officials all of their equipment, film and tape in bags and containers that had been opened for inspection by the erstwhile officials whose only interest was a rent seeking opportunity! Four months later the bags with their unprotected containers of tape and film were eventually retrieved by diplomatic means and the Congolese government flew the bag to South Africa. However by that stage 50% of the film and tape had been spoiled by fungus although enough material remained to make the documentary. Another back story associated with the documentary was that Clarissa had, unbeknownst to her, become infected with Loa Loa while in the forest. This parasite only makes itself known when the host eventually becomes aware of large wriggling worms in the eyeball! However it was 12 years before the Loa Loa had progressed to that stage and the worms appeared in her line of sight in December of 2008! This documentary also contains scenes in which pygmies
hunt and
eat wild game so this documentary is not for
the squeamish.
Part 1 of Congo movie
Part 2 of Congo movie
CHEETAH PAINTING
A Time Lapse Movie
This short 3 minute documentary was compiled for the catalogue of a Paul Augustinus show. Time constraints eventually meant that the planned DVD to accompany the catalogue for the show did not come to pass even though Paul Augustinus had painstakingly created time lapse sequences of every painting in that show. Being a small painting it took 4 days to complete.