From left: Zinyange Auntony, Samson Moyo, Vicki Wanjohi, Bose Bonda and David Ponera.
The story of Africa’s rivers is also the story of her people: people who have fished, navigated and depended on these waters for almost as long as we have existed. As the ebb and flow of the rivers has changed over time, so too have the cultures and myths associated with them; multi-generational stories that morph yet persist like pebbles on the riverbed.
Ancient stories of place often feature spirits and guardians who served a purpose to either keep them sacred, or ward people away if dangers lurked. Today, as these wild rivers come under increased threat from erosion, mining, plastics, deforestation and climate change, the river guardians and spirits of cultural lore have begun to disappear.
This is why, together with AFRISOS (African School of Storytelling), we are empowering emerging African filmmakers to tell these stories alongside our teams of researchers and scientists. We see this as instrumental in shifting public opinion - to communicating science and stories in a way that can transcend barriers of geography, language and medium; and crucially do so through centering perspectives and voices that have historically been marginalised or neglected in nature storytelling.
“Stories can have an impact and be hopeful but need to show that even an individual can take action, no matter how small, to be part of the solution. Can the audience be moved to act because of despair or hope? That is the question.” - Vicki Wanjohi
Our inaugural workshop was held in February in the Okavango Delta, where the five chosen filmmakers - Vicki Wanjohi from Kenya, David Ponera from Tanzania, Samson Moyo from Zambia, Bose Bonda from Botswana and Zinyange Auntony from Zimbabwe were flown to the Mopiri Research Camp on the west side of the Okavango Delta for one week.
Their brief was to produce a 2-minute character profile of members of our Botswana team, many of whom are from the Wa’yei tribe who have been living around the Delta for generations. They got crash courses from mentors Johann Vorster (TWP’s creative director), and Jigar Ganatra (AFRISOS co-founder) in everything from how to structure a story, check and look after their gear, interview their subjects and edit the final product, all while being put through the motions and rigours of being on a real expedition - including multiple encounters with hippos and other wild animals.
Instrumental to this was also understanding how to involve and develop a story together with the communities. “I learnt to use storytelling formulas that are less extractive yet cover creative and ethical ends without compromise,” said Zinyange Auntony. “The other takeaway was that it is equally essential to avoid impeding on culture and to communicate effectively with locals and scientists for a successful story.”
To watch all five finished films from the workshop, click here.
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