SUITED WITH SKIN
A POETIC SHORT FILM BY SHOROUK ELKOBROSI
FEATURING THE RELATIONAL RESEARCHER; DR.JOANNE PEERS
In the South African context, the female-led protest in 1956 marked a powerful, unapologetic moment in time where women from all cultures, colours and creeds opposed pass laws and made it known freedom and equality is incomplete without our access to freedom.
With gender-based issues and violence remaining a sore point in modern South Africa - women continue their fight for equality and work passionately across sectors to amplify their agency, beauty and innovation. They fight for the rights of all, to protect their children, to bridge the pay gap, to oppose the limitations that still stifle female leadership, and to create more inclusive, diverse and true communities of care. We have a long way to go, but have come a long way too from a society that sought to entirely exclude and oppress female agency.
“I am Dr. Joanne Peers.
I’m the first in my lineage.
Doctor. The first.
I dream of many to come.
I’m my mommy’s child.
I am a brown, porous, watery body.
I’m my grandmothers dream.
My skin is brown,
and I see and feel myself with the world.
This is my story.
I refuse to be zipped up.
It’s an act of refusal.
It’s necessary but not necessarily easy.”
Dr. Joanne Peers is one of many passionate watery bodies in Cape Town’s growing dive community; a community that was until recent years devoid of diversity and the watery stories that belong to our ancestors. Largely erased and hidden behind a stark white veil of systemic oppression; women in South Africa have forced through the discomfort of occupying spaces previously reserved for the few to holistically explore their relationship with the ocean through the lens of lineage, modern identity and belonging.
An extension of her ocean exploration; her doctoral research sought to connect her stories and personal ties to an academic world only beginning to explore relational learning for the inherent value and power it has to redefine and reimagine the future of exploration, knowledge systems and living archives that will leave behind histories more true and complete than before… through her stories, and her lens.
IMMERSE IN SUITED WITH SKIN
ABOUT SHOROUK ELKOBROSI
Shorouk Elkobrosi (Egypt) is an internationally experienced cinematographer and documentary filmmaker. Holding an MSc in Climate Sciences from Hamburg University and an MA in Cinematography from MetFilm School London, she explores human communities and their connections to nature in a climate-changed world. Her latest film, "Salt on My Lips" (2024), pays homage to a fishing village slated for demolition. As the founder of Anthropotpourri, a production house dedicated to immersive, human-centric planetary stories, Shorouk has collaborated with international clients such as the BBC World Service, producing newsroom-style climate science programs; the African-German Youth Initiative, filming a documentary on the impact of African social entrepreneurs on climate mitigation; and organizations like the European Science Foundation, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and IIASA.
With proficiency in cinema camera operation, lighting design, and visual storytelling, Shorouk is seeking opportunities as a Director of Photography, cinematographer, or camera operator, particularly with organizations creating impactful, human-centric environmental films. Shorouk was 1 of 10 African cinematographers to participate in the first Her Len Cinematography Lab; a program by Nature Environment Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) geared at supporting female representation in Nature, Environment and Wildlife storytelling. Since becoming a fellow, she has produced a series of short, poetic films - Suited with Skin featuring Dr.Joanne Peer (The Relational Researcher), Anatomy of a Wave featuring fellow North-African cinematographer Inès Arsi and another untitled microfilm unveiling Inès Arsi’s philosophy.
