Tides That Bind: A Sea of Belonging

Across the Global South, communities share many deep-rooted connections to nature - shaped by ancestral knowledge, colonial legacies, Afro-cultural links, linguistic richness, climate vulnerability and biodiversity loss due to exploitation. The quality of the catalogue of short films produced in a short space of time spent together at eKhaya earlier this year - and showcased at the #NEWF2025 Congress - demonstrated the impact of long term exploration, project-based work and skills, and global exchange.

To build cross-continental connections through ocean access and storytelling, NEWF, Santiago Wild and Ladera Sur partnered to support a cultural exchange at eKhaya that brought together 15 multidisciplinary fellows with unique ties to the sea. Demonstrating the power of collaborative partnerships, cultural exchange and peer to peer learning as an exponential growth practice; curating programs like these present new opportunities to show how storytellers, conservation advocates and scientists are elevating their practices, and in doing so, amplify ethical and deeply nuanced narratives that resonate widely with audiences from all walks of life.

Demonstrating the power of collaborative partnerships, cultural exchange and peer to peer learning as an exponential growth practice; curating programs like these present new opportunities to show how storytellers, conservation advocates and scientists are elevating their practices, and in doing so, amplify ethical and deeply nuanced narratives that resonate widely with audiences from all walks of life.

The quality of the catalogue of short films produced in a short space of time spent together at eKhaya earlier this year - and showcased at the #NEWF2025 Congress leaned into the magic that happens when you bring together the experiences and perspectives of different ocean explorers. Each fellow has crafted their skills and honed their lens through long-term relationships with their communities, project-based work and skills - and share a heartfelt conviction that this is more than work… it’s a calling. 

Over 10 days in Sodwana Bay, they dived, learned, and filmed side by side - producing a powerful catalogue of short films that hold our gaze on Black joy, creativity, agency and ancestral connection to water; expanding the possibilities about who gets to tell our ocean stories, and how the people around us who we know, love and learn from are portrayed.

Still image from Khuthaza.

Khuthaza, an isiZulu word which means to encourage someone to take action, especially in a positive and uplifting way. Produced, directed, filmed and edited by Asier Schwarzlose (Chile), Daniela Rakos (Chile), Gérard Zinzindohué (Benin), Labdi Ommes (Kenya), and Pablo Albarenga (Uruguay) - and featuring music by Labdi Ommes and Makhonjwa John Zikhali (South Africa) - the short film features the interconnected stories of ocean exploration by Cebolakhe ‘Cebo’ Mthembu (South Africa) and his friend Andile Emage (South Africa).

Inspired to learn to dive after seeing his neighbour Sandile immerse in the underwater world and leaving to work in the dive industry abroad, his journey sees him inviting Andile to face his fear and explore the vastness of an ocean deemed taboo by many locals. In place of fear, the audience peeks through a briny lens to witness the unfolding of joy, curiosity and possibility in place of the fear earlier expressed. 

Still image from O mar para Analine.

O mar para Analine (Sea to Analine) produced, directed, filmed and edited by Daniel Venturini (Brazil), Dércio Muha (Mozambique), Luciá Flórez (Peru), Husna Aminu (Tanzania), and Yarminiah Rosa (US, Puerto Rico and Honduras) takes us underwater with Muha whose relationship with nature, the city and his musical journey is intrinsically connected to the nostalgic soundscapes he has spent so much of his life recording and attuned to.

Connecting with his niece, Analine D’o Madeira, the poetic short film sees him exploring underwater to record sounds her melody will be woven into. Citing the water of the wombs we each are grown and birthed from as our first soundscape and connection to briny water - he leans into contributions by musician and South x South fellow Labdi Ommes (Kenya), and the incredible whale sounds from Isabel Gonçalves, a collaborator of the Laboratory of Bioacoustics in studies on ecology, behaviour, and bioacoustics of cetaceans as essential layers. In the end, the song evokes a nostalgic wave of emotions ranging from peacefulness, joy and wander; to stirrings of longing, possibility, and even a touch of grief if your path has been one of loss.

Still image from Eliphephile.

Exploring themes of safety, community, friendship and the largeness of unexplored possibility when you grow up in a small town; Eliphephile (Safe Home) is a coming of age short film pausing for the protagonist, Nombuso Qwabe to ask what the future holds.

Produced, directed, filmed and edited by Manuel Novillo (Argentina), Maritza Lavín (Mexico), Samira Vera-Cruz (Cabo Verde), Shamier Magmoet (South Africa), and Ozair Bakht (India); stunning cinematography frames Black joy and the lightness of being together as friends. We see Nombuso’s smile light the screen alongside like minded and curious friends Cebo, Skhumbuso, Mpendulo, Andile, and PK - amplified by Escape by musicians Marcia Buwa (South Africa) and Skill Sawasawa (Congo), and Eyawo by musician Labdi Ommes (Kenya).

Overall, these films evoke visceral feelings of curiosity, belonging, and community custodianship. The wave of warmth washing over this catalogue is a hopeful awakening to the reality that we are telling the stories we wish to see in the world; bringing home the pride and triumph that naturally accompanies access, straight to the protagonists who watch back and see themselves enveloped by their own talent and agency - and feel seen by the audience who are impacted by and wholly expanded by these films.