Variations on a Theme (EN)

Ouma Hettie is an elderly goat herder who has lived her entire life in the Kamiesberg region of South Africa. When she is promised compensation for her father’s military service, she becomes entangled in a fraudulent scheme. It disrupts her daily rituals and threatens her independence, while the film closely observes her life and the world around her.

Variations on a Theme captures the atmosphere of the small town and surrounding landscape, paying particular attention to the plants, animals and natural environment in which Hettie lives. The documentary portrays a world in which people and landscape are
closely connected.

Variations on a Theme premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the Tiger Award, the festival’s top prize.