WHAT LENS DO YOU VIEW AFRICA THROUGH?
What comes to mind when you envision a group of divers exploring the southern tips kelp forests, restoring East Africa’s coral reefs or filming wildlife in warm and wild forest and plains across the continent?
What do filmmakers, scientists, innovators and conservation heroes look like, sound like, and dress like?
Our Story Arc is a collection of stories that amplify, and powerfully celebrate some of the trailblazing, compelling, complex, funny, hopeful, nuanced, inspiring, passionate and hard-fought journeys of African storytellers, conservationists and scientists in the NEWF community - and far beyond.
Through these stories, we celebrate our collective agency, and seek to share the value of community-centric impact through warm, thought-provoking narratives that highlight the richly diverse cultures, multidisciplinary talent and Indigenous knowledge systems that play a significant role in the preservation of our wild spaces, species and the communities that coexist with them.
Travel across Africa alongside these storytellers, innovators and explorers; the curious creatives, passionate peers, and radical agents of change refocusing the narratives of Africa.
The World Underwater
Noel Kok is a man of passion and energetic ideas for changing the narrative of Africa. One way Noel seeks to do this is by providing access to the ocean through a series of programmes called NEWF Dive LABS. These programmes offer access to Africans who may have not had the ability nor the access to experience the ocean in a way that one can only dream of.
THROUGH MY EYES
For a person who had been longing to learn how to dive, the NEWF Dive and Story Lab could not have come at a better time. To begin with, diving is a necessary skill for anyone studying or working in the marine field - I have been part of a team of researchers, community members, and other stakeholders working to restore degraded coral reefs, amongst other things. To make it even better, storytelling and filmmaking were a part of this too!
CAPTURING THE VISION
When I found myself being invited to the NEWF Wildlife Cinematography Lab in partnership with RED Digital Cinema and Wildlife Society of Filmmakers for a 4 Day REDucation Workshop, how could I not drop everything and anything to take part in this experience?! Especially when the Mission of NEWF has always been so clear ‘to remove the barriers to entry and build capacity to enable access, support inclusion and create a culture of equity”. So, I packed my bags, boarded the plane and uttered my mantra as I prepared and made the intention to always keep my eye on the goal post.
A DIVE INTO TANZANIAN WATERS
Diving. A word that seems very foreign to a number of Tanzanians, particularly those on the mainland. The first reaction of many when I told them I was going to film two young Tanzanian men learning how to dive was “Tanzanians diving? How and why?”
Compose Yourself!
I'm not a musician but I have been through the musical training ground of at least 80% of the world’s most famous musicians - the church band! I got over my imposter syndrome by remembering that as a storyteller, I have often needed the help of music and sound to say what my visuals and my words could not say.
A Score of African Strings and Beats
An African orchestra is at play on the coast of St Lucia. Overlooking the lush green coastal Isimangaliso Marine park, a group of selected African performers have come together to create a fusion of African sounds to ignite composition and musical scoring for film and trailer soundtracks.
How Deep is Your Pinnacle?
The initial shock of being in the pool for three days straight is only starting to wear off when the ladies are told to mentally prepare for their first open dive. A collective sigh and groan can be heard echoing, the anxiousness of being in the open water is shared amongst most.
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Fins
Vividly, I remember the night before April 8th 2021. My stomach was in knots and my teeth were locked in anxiety - too wound up to sleep but too exhausted to engage with anything but my thoughts. April 8th would mark the day I would meet 9 phenomenal women from around the continent who themselves had struggled with mixed feelings the night before.