Now, we all know that the stories are within us and that the knowledge of our ancestors is our very being, but today we ask our how we’ve interacted with or how we’ve been portrayed in the many natural world stories not told from our perspectives - or how we have not been included in those perspectives.
As I look back over the past 6 months we see so clearly how the narrative is shifting and what global storytelling truly looks like. We are actioning who gets to tell the story, and who gets to interact with and experience it. eKhaya Storytelling, Research and Dive Centre has been central to that as fellows have passed through her doors to develop films, celebrate film festival achievements, participate in freediving and scuba dive labs and log dives en-route to divemaster... Not to mention cinematographers sharing their experiences of capturing a ground-breaking rhino dehorning mission, and a passionate exchange with our YDWP friends from the diaspora. Our 'Why' is put into perspective when we watch the World Ocean’s Day school visit at eKhaya - a team effort captured by Chisomo Kawaga, a young cinematographer whose film will be featured in our ASFF Campaign in July.
And of course being who we are as a community, we started the year with a party and some celebration, holding down our own at the NEWF Fellows Summit & Congress and jumping straight back to the work on the ground and travelling to local and international gatherings. We've celebrated countless fellows along the way, many who held their own on global stages we once took to share our dream for Africa Refocused.
What an incredible first half of 2024 it has been - too incredible to mention it all in a few short words. But we’re filled with hope and excitement for what the the next 6 months will bring. More Labs, more opportunities, more visibility, more equity... And those Lab call-outs I mentioned? They go live next week... Stay tuned.
With love, Pragna | EXPLORING THE FUTURE
OF SCIENCE + STORYTELLING | This year has been electric with momentum! One of the most exciting events on our travel calendar is the National Geographic Society Explorers Festival. For NEWF, each year has given us more opportunity to celebrate our community and see our dream of Pan-African representation growing in the Society and around the world.
Our dream of seeing diverse catalogues of authentic stories featuring a global melting pot of culture, language and community-inclusive impact is supported by the Society through our collaboration, Africa Refocused, which is lead by explorers Noel Kok and Pragna Parsotam-Kok, Co-Founders and Executive Directors of NEWF.
What’s most affirming for the future of African-Led impact, science, conservation and storytelling is that our program is not an entry point to the Society. These explorers have contributed to the growth of many people in their communities by paving an easier path for them to access opportunity and tell their own stories. | Read more about the Explorers Festival here. | *Drumroll... SHOWCASE LOADING! | | The African Science Film Fellowship, a collaboration between NEWF (Africa Refocused), Gorongosa National Park and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios saw 11 African self-contained producers/content creators participating in a year-long Film Fellowship. With the goal of enhancing their skills to create content in conservation sciences, Fellows participated in workshops aimed at producing high quality, accurate, and authentic films about science and scientists on the African continent.
The 2023 cohort Selected fellows are from Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabo Verde, Madagascar, and Botswana. During the course of the Fellowship the fellows were paired with a Mozambican Conservation Biology Masters student conducting their research in the Park, to create a 5 minute profile of that student.
During the month of July, we look forward to introducing these long-awaited masters film projects... Are you ready to be inspired? | Go behind the scenes here. | What does Awakening New
Depths mean to you? | | Every year the United Nations announces a theme for world oceans day; this year the theme was ‘Awaken New Depths’. Through our World Oceans Day campaign, we reflected on just some of the ways the NEWF Community is awakening new depths - both in their individual experiences, and as a collective breaking barriers in numbers by changing the narrative on ocean access - and beyond.
Our month-long reflection culminated in sharing 32 pieces of ocean content - compelling impact films, profile articles, striking marine and underwater photography and fascinating exchanges extended into the African diaspora - all rooted right within our community. | Enjoy the last few days of our public, ocean showcase here! | In conversation with The
Pan-African Film Podcast | Recently, Anna Marano from Tezeta interviewed our Dreamer Noel Kok, and Dreammaker Pragna Parsotam-Kok, about why film and storytelling is the medium they are so passionate about. In conversation for the Pan African Film Podcast, they shared how their experience as disheartened producers planted a seed for the NEWF that started in 2017, which has since grown to be the year-round capacity-building organisation that we know today. | ‘We might be South African-based but we are fiercely Pan-African.
So many of these borders that exist in Africa, we had no part in putting up.
Whilst respecting each others identities, and regions and the areas we come from, if we remain connected via community and continue to support each other and build each other up from the perspective of community - we can break down and we can lessen the impact of the institutionalised colonialism, apartheid and disenfranchisement from an economic perspective to collectively lessen
that burden for everybody on the continent.’ - Noel Kok | Referencing films from filmmakers in the NEWF Community, Anna teased out the value of changing the known narratives of Africa through authentic, African-led Storytelling, building authentic Pan-African communities and grabbing the bull by its horns to challenge the lack of equity in these otherwise thriving industries through supporting the production of nature, environement and wildlife impact films that inspire locals and offers authentic narratives for global audiences.
| | Listen to more episodes of the Pan-African Film Podcast here. | |
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