(Un)told Stories
A journalistic exploration of the vibrant South African documentary industry.
“Film can simply and powerfully reveal human situations, make human connections, give a sense of being there… of course other mediums can also achieve this - but because of its relative immediacy and range of diverse elements it is usually easier to do this on film. Documentaries often can also offer a longer-range perspective on a situation and show more complicated nuances. For me personally, one of the great things about documentaries is also that they can open up entirely new possibilities, transport one into an entirely different way of seeing, thinking or feeling about an issue.”
- Francois Verster, award-winning South African documentary filmmaker
Editor's Note
As a high school student, I started exploring the world of journalism and my passion of telling others' stories through words ignited.
As a journalism honours student in 2019, I was exposed to many forms of journalism throughout this year, realising that stories can be told using much stronger mediums, namely visual and audio.
Since I saw the course outline I was excited for the day we were to start with our Documentary Journalism module, with lecturer Izette Mostert, who is a documentary filmmaker herself. I can confidently say that it was Izette that sparked my interest in documentary storytelling and inspired this entire project.
I experienced a pressing feeling of urgency when Izette exposed our class to this world that few know about. A world of creative storytelling through audio and visual. A world of people who document important and heartbreaking issues in our country. A world of people who live to tell others' stories, but then not having anyone telling their stories to the world outside of this documentary space. The told stories remain untold.
The unfortunate tale of a shrinking print media might be to blame for the lack of exposure these filmmakers (and more importantly, the issues they address in their films) are being subjected to, but one of the biggest setbacks for South African documentary storytelling is the unraveling of the national broadcaster, the SABC. The filmmakers themselves cannot do everything. It is journalists' and the mainstream media's role to inform the public. This informing ought to include the numerous award-winning and internationally acclaimed documentaries made that tell the stories of those in need of social justice. I am but one cog in the wheel, hoping to spark a massive movement.