Peter Langmead

Film Director, Screenwriter, Composer, Steadicam operator, Social Documentary Photographer

My latest film is The Borderline, released on December 4, 2019

Movie: The Borderline

What does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his mind? In a desperate bid to make a success of his life and become rich in the future, Faustino, a poacher and failed gemstone dealer, sells his soul to the devil. Paranoia, despair and nihilism shimmer in the unsettled corners of his vanished convictions, mislaid in the shadows of the deep rivers, dusty plains and homeless cities of his mind. Faustino is introverted but becomes aggressive and aggravated if he is confronted; he is jealous of his wife’s imaginary infidelity, which conceals his increasing insanity. See More

Movie: Damyna the Musical

A tranquil African village is thrown into turmoil when Damyna, a poor abandoned girl, becomes torn between her love for the boy she grew up with and the handsome, suave stranger who strides into her life. Damyna is brought up by a kindly ‘aunt’ who has paid off her father’s moneylender to secure the girl’s freedom. She grows into a young woman knowing that the aunt’s son, Por Phiri, is not her brother, contrary to his believe that they are siblings. See More

Opera: The Legend of Konga Mato

Not all is quiet in a small fishing village on the banks of the Jiunda Swamp: kongamato have been stealing cattle, and the chief calls headman Phiri to a meeting to decide what they are going to do about stopping them. Earlier in the day, the headman’s son, Peri, released a strange young and beautiful woman dressed in black, Belita, who he found with his friends tied to a tree in the swamp shortly before kongamato attack the village again, as the sun goes down, severely wounding headman Phiri. See More

Damyna Damyna the Opera

A girl child, Damyna, is nearly sold to her father's moneylender but is bought and brought up by her mother's friend. To avoid problems with her real son, Por Phiri, his mother ensures he believes she is his real sister, but they love each other dearly. Trouble arrives when two attractive consultants, Kati Pault and Given Chansa, arrive at their farm to 'improve' their farming skills. Por falls in love with Kati; Given Chansa falls in love with Damyna, with the help of a drunken witch doctor, who assumes Damyna and Por are really brother and sister. See More

Photobook: Postcards from Zambia

The evolution of photography and the history of Zambia show some intriguing parallels, not only in their timelines but also in the way they reflect moments in world history, their paths crossing in often extraordinary ways. This book provides documentary photographs of the country and in the process reflects the culmination of those two histories, of photography and Zambia. By extrapolation it charts a course for the next phase of the country’s journey from colonialism through independence to a liberal future, and coincidently points the way to a much needed new genre in its photographic voyage. See More

Photobook: The Zambians

This is the second book on Zambia by Peter Langmead in which he continues to argue that the preservation of the nation’s social history is more important for Zambians and for global heritage than the persistence of Western post-modern indecisiveness about whether documentary photography is important or to be trusted. See More

Photobook: zedscape

In his third book, Peter Langmead captures the ever-changing rural and urban environments of Zambia. This is important, not only for the social history of Zambia but also for global heritage. In the Western-centric, material and increasingly unstable world we live in, there is an inherent risk that societies miss the value photographs add to the awareness and consciousness of our environment. See More

Photobook: ZedPipo

‘You are what you do’, a well-worn phrase that, rightly or wrongly, seeks to encapsulate the identity of an individual within the confines of a profession, job or social role. Capturing identity in a photograph, or indeed a painting, creates a caricature that attempts to summarise an element of a subject. But does it capture their character? See More