Bitter Roots (2010)

Set in North East Namibia in southern Africa's Kalahari desert, traditional home of the Bushmen. It updates the ethnographic film record begun in the 1950s by John Marshall, whose films documented 50 years of change, and who together with Claire Ritchie, established a grass-roots development foundation which Adrian Strong (the filmmaker) joined in the late 1980s. Shot in 2007, Bitter Roots documents the return of Strong and Ritchie to Namibia where they observe the erosion of a community-led development process following the imposition of a new agenda by the World Wildlife Fund, which prioritizes wildlife conservation and tourism over subsistence farming. Communities voice their dissatisfaction with the new Conservancy, which has done little to help people farm and improve their lives.