A Story of Bones

What begins as a simple formality in the construction of an airport transforms into a campaign to pay honour to thousands lost through the transatlantic slave trade.

Annina van Neel was employed as the Chief Environmental Officer overseeing the construction of an airport on Saint Helena, a British colonial outpost a long way from Namibia, where van Neel grew up. But when a burial site is discovered, holding the remains of some 8,000 slaves, her role dramatically shifts. Haunted by the injustice of South Africa’s Apartheid past, and the desecration of these sacred African burial grounds, van Neel seeks justice for the remains in a campaign that exposes Britain’s deeply troubling ties to its colonial legacy.

Content Guidance: Film shows human remains.