Few places remain as remote or magnificent as the Transkei, the boyhood home of the late anti-apartheid icon and beloved father figure of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Photographer and filmmaker Laurence Ellis, who has shot for i-D, Vogue and Art Review, pays tribute to the remote outpost in today’s lyrical short. Inspired by the power and optimism of an image he was once shown of a local boy on horseback, Ellis drove two days from Cape Town to reach the rural Xhosa village where horseracing celebrations were already underway. “Even the name Transkei, which translates to ‘place beyond the River Kei,’ has a kind of wonder to it; a slightly fairy tale quality,” he says. Lead by young villagers, Ellis meandered its winding pastures dotted with brightly-colored thatched roof rondavels, and descended rutty tracks to ancient wave-battered monoliths with unassuming names, like The Hole in the Wall. “It has a contrast that in a way sums up a lot about South Africa,” adds the director. “You sense there’s a lot of hardship, but there’s this incredible beauty that goes with it.”