FRANCISTOWN DOCUMENTARY FILM GETS SPONSORS
The Francistown History documentary film production has fished sponsors of P115 000 from the United States (US) Embassy.
“Untold Stories: A history and diversity of Francistown” documentary aims to commemorate the History and Cultural Heritage of the second city as it was a flourishing gold mining town back in the 19th century, it comprises mainly of Bakalanga and other tribes reciting in and around the city. Supa Ngwao Museum is the overseer of Francistown history.
“When I first came to Francistown on the 3rd of August, 2021, I was very intrigued by the rich colonial buildings that are scattered in the city and began to do my own research. What is also very interesting is that the first Gold-rush in Southern Africa began here in 1836 – 1870. I was also intrigued by the history of Bakalanga people,” said Jeoffery Matheokgomo the manager of Supa Ngwao manager during the documentary launch last week.
As the documentary film is sponsored through the United States (US) Ambassador’s Fund (AFCP) for Cultural Preservation, the US embassy has also in the past injected over P400 000 to help Supa Ngwao Museum in Francistown to preserve and protect the historical collections documenting the history of the Bakalanga and other tribes found in the area.
“The museum has collections of ethnographic and historical collections of the history of Bakalanga who are the dominant tribe in the city and other tribes,” mentioned the American Embassy, cultural specialist Naomi Tshosa during the launch.
She added to say that through the AFCP the Embassy managed to renovate an old government veterinary facility that shared its premises with the Supa Ngwao Museum. The documentary will include some sites from the city being the WENELA Hangar, Francistown historic prison and the former veteran politician Phillip Matante’s grave.
