Climate Story Lab ZA

***CLIMATE JUST FUTURES FROM AFRICA: THIS IS WHERE IT'S @!*** Solidarity and formation of communities is happening rapidly across the continent. The passion, discourse and creation of spaces to dream and vision is palpable. We are on a takeoff. African led climate storytelling is airborne and you can feel it. We are on the cusp of a revival, of leaning into our superpower, telling stories of life, of something deep and blessed by our ancestors. Something wonderful. Community, Indigenous science, persistence, narrative sovereignty and collaboration are words that foreground conversations at the recent Durban FilmMart SA 2024 edition. With a first of its kind climate focus programming supported by DOC SOCIETY and hosted by Climate Story Lab ZA in partnership with Steps and Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA), a pan African climate delegation made up of storytellers, impact producers, broadcast executives, funders and distributors attended the market and they brought it in! From across Africa, these are not just words. The Africa Labs showcase alone ignited catalytic connections among cultural organisers who are actively running labs across the continent, each with a slate of high quality compelling narratives being made by brilliant storytellers. From multi-format stories of brave acts of resistance by communities in Senegal against a coal plant being installed at their seaside town, to stories of historical injustices fueled by the climate crisis in Kenya and one man's tenacious fight for his community’s only livelihood, to a biopic of Wole Soyinka. The list is endless. The narratives being made are epochal of a bold, clear eyed storytelling that has found a language that speaks fluently to its people and it is being loved right back! Reflective of the continent's young population, technology, alternative distribution and pathways to reach audiences are being developed, mirroring the colourful diversity of content consumption and service to strategic audiences from the cities to the villages. The energy is fast, contagious, urgent, light, joyful with loud laughters and radical acceptance of agency in building a future of abundance, love, care and healing in ways we are yet to fully comprehend. Friends, this is where it's @! Shout out to fellow comrades: DocA - Documentary Africa, Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab, East Africa Screen Collective, Filmmakers Collective (IBFC), The Realness Institute, Durban FilmMart SA, UMI Fund, CSL Lagos, Sunshine Cinema, NEWF, Tunga Afrika, and Mai Jai Films. Yours in solidarity, Emily Wanja, Director of African Programmes at Doc Society

FAME Week Africa 2024 A huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended our ‘Impact producing’ session at MIP Markets FAME Week Africa this week. It was wonderful to welcome you all to the Climate Story Lab ZA community. A big shout out to the 6SENSE filmmakers who allowed us to hack their short film during this session. Photos by Shunyu Kwei.

FAME Week Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre this past week… 1) Programme managed the climate delegation and impact hackathon for Climate Story Lab ZA. Moderated by Liani Maasdorp with speakers Cindy Makandi, Tiny Mungwe and Miki Redelinghuys 2) Spoke on a panel on behalf of Encounters South African International Documentary Festival about the role of film festivals in promoting African content. Moderated by Nthabeleng Phora with speakers Lala Tuku, Onke Dumeko, Lyse Ishimwe, Lamonia Deanne Brown and myself. 3) And supported another panel in collaboration with Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival on documenting stories from the African continent.  Moderated by Maganthrie Pillay with speakers Tiny Mungwe, Miki Redelinghuys, Nicola van Niekerk and Izette Mostert. #encountersdocfest #fameweek2024

It’s been a busy year for the CSLZA team. We shot the lights out at Encounters in June, DFM in July, and now we’re back in Cape Town for FAME Week Africa / MIP Africa 2- 4 September.   We can hardly keep up with the demand from film festivals and markets to continue the conversation about the power of #climatestorytelling. This underscores the urgency of the #climatecrisis and the desire to know how creatives can respond to it. Filmmakers have a vital role to play in sounding the alarm! And we are here to support them in designing a kick-ass creative alternative distribution strategy.   Want to know more? Join us for a panel discussion and #impacthackathon Tuesday 3 September in Brain Box on the 3rd of September 2024 from 16:30-18:00.

The University of Cape Town Centre for Film and Media Studies (UCT CFMS), the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA), DOC SOCIETY, Climate Story Lab South Africa (CSLZA) and Sunshine Cinema the UCT Impact Facilitator Short Course are collaborating to host an interactive impact session at FAME Week Africa! #impactproducing #documentaryfilm #filmmakers #filmfestivals #filmdistribution

Let's connect at Durban FilmMart SA 2024! We are joined by partners, filmmakers, colleagues within the information ecosystem, cultural and community organizers for the first climate storytelling delegation at this year's Durban FilmMart SA climate focus. We will unpack partnerships and pathways to reach the audience as alternative distribution, the role of storytellers in the current climate chaos, and impact strategies for our work. The question we are pondering is, are the current storytelling and information ecosystems in the region really serving us? How must we evolve to deliver visions of climate-just futures? Come through. We'd love to hear your thoughts! Durban FilmMart SA, Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA), STEPS, University of Cape Town, DOC SOCIETY, Climate Story Lab ZA, UMI Fund

We're on our way back from being part of the first pan-African Climate Storytelling Delegation at the Durban FilmMart SA in collaboration with DOC SOCIETY, Climate Story Lab ZA, #GIPA & Steps! There is an abundance of compelling stories driven by community voices across Africa that are shifting narratives and focusing on the challenges and solutions to the climate crisis. We are excited to get back and start thinking how we can better weave and connect across the continent to drive climate action! #storytelling #narratives #community #climatechange #climateaction

Our Climate Focused sessions are one of the main reasons we are going to Durban FilmMart. Our first session is titled "Don't Stop Talking About Climate Chaos" and is happening on the first day of the mart from 15:45-16:45 in Suite 5. Don't miss it! Come to hear us discuss the role of creatives in sounding the alarm in this climate crisis moment. The climate crisis is an existential threat that is extremely deadly for our communities on the continent. What timeless power do storytellers have to shift narratives, challenge the status quo and inspire change? Come join us for a soapbox style discussion, led by award winning filmmakers and activists as we take stock of the crisis. We will dare to envision an abundant future seeded in justice through narratives that resonate with our realities and agency.

Our second session in our climate focus sessions Durban Filmmart. Partnerships and Pathways to Reach Audiences 12:30-13:30 in Suite 5 on the 20th of July! Don't miss it! In the early 2000’s the world and in particular the African continent was staring down the barrel of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Miscommunication, denialism and fake news was hampering efforts to tackle the problem, Sound familiar? It was through the collective will of scientists, activists, political leaders, civil society, innovators and the media that we turned the tide on HIV/AIDS related deaths. We need to harness the same kind of collective focus and political will to address the climate crisis. Film-makers can only create impactful content with the support of  funders and broadcasters who take the threat serious enough to prioritise climate content. This ship cannot turn itself around. We need conscious decisions with regards to programming and we need the funding to support the work. In this interactive discussion, we  invite funders, broadcasters, alternative distributors and content creators to share innovative partnerships to reach audiences for impactful climate communication.

Film Industry Focus on Climate at Durban FilmMart. For the full story visit https://lnkd.in/dJ_udR3K #welovetellingyourstories #ImpactThatMatters #SocialTvNews Share your CSI/CSR/Shared Value/Social Innovation/Social Capital/Shared Value and ESG stories, press releases and audio to [email protected] Durban FilmMart SA, Nasreen Al-Amin Climate Story Lab ZA Kudzayi Ngwerume Peter Murimi BBC Kumi Naidoo Greenpeace) Anita Khanna