One day, I saw 10,000 elephants

Creative documentary / Work in progress
Written and directed by Pepe Ortín
Produced by Giovanna Ribes.

Imagine that you are blind and stop being
Imagine you see something for the first time
Imagine that you see something huge
A family. A village. A country. A continent.

Imagine you see Africa for the first time.
Let’s imagine it’ s December 17th, 1944 your ship has just arrived to Santa Isabel the capital of the old Spanish Guinea

Synopsis
A contemporary documentary which takes us back to the black Africa of colonization, to the former Spanish colony of Guinea and the reporters from all over the world who went there. The French called them “Chasseurs d’images a la conquète du monde”. They were mainly filmmakers who moved to the European colonies in Africa. In their films, they portrayed that colonial black world that caused a strange fascination in Europe.

Following the fashion of the time, as a false imitation of the great European colonial powers, in 1945, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered that to send a team of filmmakers to the Spanish Guinea to film wild and daily life in those territories.

The director of one of those “hunters of images” Spanish teams was Manuel Hernández Sanjuán who together with Herminio García (amateur photographer/filmmaker), become a kind of audiovisual notary of the everyday world of that curious “España Negra” which a few thousand Spaniards had created in the heart of Africa.

Now, these Spaniards, who lived through that languid, tranquil, chaotic and tropical piece of Spain in Africa, revive us, lead us from the hand on a trip through the Guinea of the years 50 and 60 of the 20th century.

A film about the landscape of the audiovisual memory of one of the most surprising and unknown episode of the contemporary history of Spain.

A story full of fascination for Africa and its people. A story full of fascination for the history of the audiovisual memory. A necessary film that has not been published and it is still unknown.

TECHNICAL SPECS

  • Title: One day,I saw 10,000 elephants
  • Genre: Creative documentary
  • Nationality: Spain
  • Language: Spanish/ Catalan
  • Runtime:90 min
  • Color: Color/ B&W
  • Production by We Are Here Films and Tarannà Films

TEAM

  • PERE ORTÍN
  • VIC PEREIRÓ