SYNOPSIS

Documentary, 75min, South Africa/Germany, 2022

Topics: VAWG, GBV, femicide, drug- and substance abuse, spatial inequality, activism, women’s rights

The small South African town of Bredasdorp has been shaken by a series of rapes and murders of women. Femicide and violence against women reach pandemic levels in the country as a whole. Community worker Lana O’Neill runs a safe house in Bredasdorp - the only one in the whole region. Lana’s activities range widely, from picking up intoxicated women under a bridge to negotiating funding with the deputy mayor.

Following Lana as she goes about her daily business, we see how a legacy of inequality, poverty and violence wreak havoc on the lives of women. The local government, meanwhile, is doing little to help Lana fund self-defence classes and we watch as the pressure of work inevitably increases on the fierce activist. 

DORPIE, filmed over the course of five years, is a portrait of a woman making the most of her grassroots leadership qualities, but who is struggling against the tide. Dealing with indifference, performative activism by politicians and the vicious cycle of domestic abuse Lana almost reaches her breaking-point.