The tale of Sara Baartman should be known to every South African. For it is a story that distils the audacity of European racism and is an accessible and moving account of her life. Sara was a Khoi-Khoi woman, born in the Cape in 1790, who at the age of 20 was taken to London by two Europeans visiting Cape Town—one the brother of her Dutch employer.

It was there she was named ‘the Hottentot Venus’ and sold by her traveling companions as a freak act to London audiences fascinated with the exotic. The subsequent battle over her remains is recounted by French, British and South African historians. This film grapples with issues of race, ownership and the practice of history.

Award-wining Maseko is a graduate of the National Film and Television School [UK] where he specialised in documentary direction.