African Peasant Farms

Overview

African Peasant Farms follows an unnamed African protagonist – ‘He is on his way to apply for a farm. He comes to a fly-post’ – and encourages the audience to identify with this African character. However, this protagonist is, like the audience, merely undertaking a tour of the area and the film’s emphasis is on the details and processes of the scheme, rather than the desires and goals of the character. The film prioritises the industrial processes, such as the manufacture of bricks, and highlights the details within the scheme : ‘each holding is 14 acres’. This emphasis on the scheme is apparent in Notcutt and Latham’s account of the film, as they explained that ‘we filmed the three different stages of development of the holdings and endeavoured to bring out the main points in the scheme’ (Notcutt and Latham, 1937, 56).