Nuhmibeeuhn | Kavena Hambira’s Film on Germany’s Genocide in Namibia

Films

Mounds Along the Waves (Excerpt) | A Film by Kavena Hambira | 2025

Mounds Along the Waves is a short commissioned film produced for the special exhibition "Gaining Ground: The German Atlantic Expedition 1925–1927" at the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum (German Maritime Museum), Bremerhaven. Drawing on archival footage, layered soundscapes, and meditative voiceover, the work weaves together oceanic imagery and suppressed memory, asking whose stories are preserved and whose are erased. Commissioned by the Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum, Bremerhaven, as part of the centenary commemoration of the German Atlantic Expedition. On exhibition through May 2026.

Nuhmibeeuhn is a 30-minute documentary following a filmmaker's return to his country of origin in the wake of Germany's formal acknowledgment of its colonial-era atrocities. The film explores what repair and recognition look like a century later. Accompanied by a co-authored op-ed in the New York Times, the film has screened at universities such as Harvard, Colby College, including cultural and academic institutions across the United States. Licensed for academic use by the University of Michigan. Academy Award-qualifying theatrical run, Roxie Theater, San Francisco.

NUHMIBEEUHN – Official Trailer | A Film by Kavena Hambira | 2023

Watch Extended Trailer

Screenings, Exhibitions & Symposiums

Nuhmibeeuhn and Mounds Along the Waves have been presented at more than 30 events across the United States and Europe, including screenings, artist talks, exhibitions, and symposia. Together the films have reached thousands of viewers, generating sustained engagement at universities, museums, and cultural institutions

I valued this project’s emphasis on returning, both home and to the self, and what that implies for the future."

- Student, Williams College
Europe and the Black Diaspora (AFR 236)