'Silvia the Zulu' film screening and lecture shown tonight in Ballantine

"Siliva the Zulu," the first film with an all native Zulu cast made in South Africa was rediscovered only several years ago by Canadian filmmaker and film historian Peter Davis. The silent film was made by Italian filmmaker Attilio Gatti in 1927, but was lost soon after production.\nThe film will be shown at 5:30 p.m. today in Ballantine Hall 205. Prior to the screening, at 4 p.m. Davis will present a lecture "The Image of the Zulu in Cinema."\nPhotos from the making of the film are on display now at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures until July 16.\nDavis discovered the film when he was in South Africa doing research for a documentary about the impact of cinema on apartheid called "In Darkest Hollywood." He found the film in the national film archive in South Africa. There was no record of how long the film had been there or who deposited it. After Davis researched the copyright record, the archive allowed him to copy the film and he put it back into distribution.\nThe film, shot in rural South Africa, documents a history that Davis said was lost until the rediscovery of the film. \n"It's a unique record of a way of life that has disappeared," Davis said.\nDuring the period of apartheid, white authorities and those with access to filmmaking technology had little interest in African history, he said.\n"The white historians created their own mythology around Africans which primarily presented them as savage and primitive people," Davis said.\nThe original musical score to the film was also lost. Davis added traditional Zulu music to go with the film and called on the talent of South African musician Themba Tana to add to the new score.\n"I thought it was a good opportunity to put African music onto an African-themed film," Davis said.\nTana was born in South Africa and eventually went on to study music at the University of Capetown. There, he became interested in traditional African music and instruments. Along with the score of Zulu music that accompanies the film, Tana will be performing his own music live at today's screening.\nOne of the instruments he will be playing is called the bushman's bow, which he taps with a thin reed.\n"You use your mouth and you change sounds and you pluck it," Tana said.\nOther instruments he will play with the film include traditional rattles, drums and small percussion instruments.\nTana said it was a challenge to write a score to accompany the rhythm and lifestyle of the Zulus portrayed in the silent film.\n"If you're African, you're sensitive to how deep the music is and you can't really write it down," Tana said.\nTana said music subconsciously helped him get through the challenges of growing up in the apartheid era of South Africa.\n"Music is a breath of life and it just depends how you breate the oxygen," Tana said.