Jul 27, 2026 |
A ground-breaking initiative in South Africa is equipping hundreds of African film-makers to tell their own natural history stories.
The founding of the non-profit Nature Environment and Wildlife Conservation Trust (NEWF) grew out of an uncomfortable realisation. In 2015, Pragna Parsotam-Kok and Noel Kok became aware of the acute shortage of local professionals working in conservation documentary and of how difficult it was to get access to nature reserves to film. That gap in the sector prompted them to set up the project, whose first congress was held two years later.
The real turning point came when the couple went looking for underwater cinematography specialists for a panel on the oceans. Their search revealed a telling picture, with the overwhelming majority of the continent's marine biologists unable even to swim, let alone scuba dive, according to The Guardian.
The answer was the organisation's first dive lab, in Sodwana Bay. What began with ten participants has grown into a wide network now numbering close to 400 fellows, drawn from 37 African nations and from other parts of the global south.
The reach of the work, and the search for a voice of its own, extends to the sounds of the savannah as well. Troubled by the cultural disconnect in the musical choices of major international productions, the organisation introduced music composition workshops in 2021.
According to the same source, that commitment to authenticity paid off almost at once. In a notable achievement, a score created by NEWF talent, among them the musician Koolkat Motyiko, won best original score at the Jackson Wild film festival, beating the celebrated Hans Zimmer.
The organisation's community dimension finds its deepest expression in the story of Silindile Mbuyazi. Known as Mama Sli, she took up diving in an attempt to recover the body of her brother, who drowned in 2015. Defying superstitious warnings from her community about a mythical seven-headed snake lurking in the water, she never found her brother, but did encounter a green turtle that she came to associate with the grandmother who raised her.
Profoundly changed by the experience, she became an instructor with the project and gave over family land for the building of eKhaya, which means home in Zulu. Opened in late 2023, the centre is made possible by funding from National Geographic's Africa Refocused programme. Today the site brings together editing suites, accommodation and a training pool where dozens of local interns take their first strokes.
With firm prospects for expanding its facilities and buying boats, the future of African conservation film-making rests, unmistakably, on putting the means of production in the hands of those who know the territory best.
Photo: Dercio Muha Gomate in Sodwana Bay, South Africa, by Jahawi Bertolli/National Geographic via The Guardian
