About this episode

This episode explores African cinema and music scoring for documentaries, featuring insights from storytellers in Mozambique and Kenya.

This week, Spotlight on Africa explores cinema and music scoring for African documentary projects with storytellers from Mozambique and Kenya. We will also bring you news from the Cannes Film Festival, along with the African teams selected to take part in the football World Cup. The next time you watch a nature documentary filmed in Africa, listen carefully to the soundtrack: you might be hearing music composed in the West, a product of "parachute" filmmaking, rather than authentic sounds and locally led stories from the continent. A group of artists, producers and organisers is working to change that through Africa Refocused , a collaboration between the National Geographic Society and Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers ( NEWF ). NEWF offers mentorship, professional development and laboratories that teach specialised skills such as underwater cinematography and music composition, supporting a community of more than 370 storytellers from over 35 African countries, who have created 27 films and counting. Their goal is to bring authentic sounds to the screen, so that Africa's nature documentaries reflect the continent's rhythms, sounds and instruments. Spotlight on Africa…

People in this episode

Guest: Dércio "Muha" Gomate

Topics covered

• African cinema
• music scoring
• documentary projects
• Cannes Film Festival
• World Cup
• authentic storytelling

Keywords

• African documentary
• music composition
• Cannes Film Festival
• World Cup
• nature documentaries
• authentic sounds
• storytellers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Geographic Society, Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF)

Books & works: Nkashi: Race for the Okavango

Places: Mozambique, Kenya

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