South x South (NEWF x Santiago Wild)
19 - 26 March 2025 | Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
NEWF (Nature, Environment & Wildlife Filmmakers) and Santiago Wild are partnering to host a 10-day Ocean Stories Exchange Lab and workshop in Sodwana Bay, South Africa. The workshop will bring together a cohort of 15 multidisciplinary storytellers who are certified divers - 8 selected by NEWF from the NEWF Community of fellows and 7 from Latin America selected by Santiago Wild.
The NEWF Fellows participating are: Anthony Ochieng Onyango (Kenya), Gérard Zinzindohoué (Benin), Labdi Ommes (Kenya), Mogamat Shamier Magmoet (South Africa), Dercio ’Muha’ Gomate (Mozambique), and Samira Vera-Cruz (Cabo Verde).
The NEWF Global Fellows participating are: Ozair Bakht (India), and Yarminiah Rosa (USA, Puerto Rico and Honduras).
The Santiago Wild participating are: Asier Schwarzlose (Chile), Daniel Venturini (Brazil), Daniela Rakos (Chile), Lucía Floréz (Peru), Manuel Novillo (Argentina), Maritza Lavín González (Mexico), and Pablo Albarenga Zamora (Uruguay).
Taking place from 19 to 29 March 2025, the workshop is designed to foster a transcontinental exchange between storytellers from Africa and Latin America. Participants will collaborate, exchange ideas, learn from one another, and co-create films that explore key themes such as indigenous science knowledge and South-South connections.
Photograph by Anthony Ochieng Onyango for the National Geographic Society.
Santiago Wild and NEWF are driven by the same core values: authenticity and representation. We’re excited to be partnering on this South to South exchange focused on sharing ocean stories, bringing fellows together and creating a shared space to explore what their story looks like. As an organisation we have always believed in the power of collaboration and intentionally exploring our differences and similarities as a way of connecting and expanding our perspectives - South to South is a brilliant example of this.
// Noel kok and Pragna Parsotam-kok, CO-founders and executive directors of NEWF
Overall, the goal of the workshop is to support more equitable nature and wildlife storytelling globally and to enhance the impact these stories have on conservation, environmental justice, and beyond.
Following the workshop, participants will travel to Durban to attend the NEWF Fellows Summit and NEWF Congress (30 March to 4 April 2025), where a rough cut film of the underwater film they produce will be screened. The final film is set to show at the Jackson Wild Film Festival.
This program was made possible by the National Geographic Society (NGS), Africa Refocused and Ladera Sur.
For more information, please contact NEWF:
connect@newf.co.za
