Narrated by Morgan Freeman, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of a remarkable group of women in a remote region of northern Zambia, who are given a unique opportunity: to learn how to make a film, as a way to speak out about their lives and to challenge the local traditions which have, until now, kept them silent.
Many in the group can’t read or write, most are desperately poor, and few have been exposed to film or television. But with the help of two teachers, this class of 23 women learn to shoot a film that portrays a subject of their own choosing. It involves an issue that is traumatic for them all, and rarely spoken about: the plight of young women orphaned by AIDS.
Their film recounts the real-life experiences of Penelop, an 18-year-old orphan, and her struggle to provide for herself and her siblings in the wake of her parents’ deaths.
What begins as a workshop about filmmaking, and a quest to tell Penelop’s story, becomes a journey in empowerment as the women rise to the challenge of pressing their community to change.
Uplifting and poignant, Where the Water Meets the Sky is the story of an unforgettable group of women who defy long traditions of silence and who demonstrate with courage, humor and resilience that their futures are once again something of promise.
The idea for Where the Water Meets the Sky began to materialize in 2003 in Tamale, the capital of the Northern region of Ghana. Here, Camfed (the Campaign for Female Education)* initiated a filmmaking training program for girls and young women.
Abibata Mahama and Dominique Chadwick, experienced participatory filmmakers, taught a small group of women from Tamale basic principles in storytelling, camera technique and sound recording. Over the course of two intense weeks, the group made three short films which addressed commonly stigmatized issues such as polygamy, child fostering and the treatment of people with disabilities. The filmmaking group then premiered their films in their communities across the northern region of Ghana and led discussions on the issues which their films had raised.
The additional, and unexpected, bonus of the workshop was that the women themselves had clearly been transformed, individually and collectively, through the experience of making their own film. Camfed had another film workshop planned for a district in northern Zambia, called Samfya. It was suggested that the women participating in the Samfya workshop might themselves be the subject of a documentary film, to capture the achievements of the women behind the camera. With the consent of the women participating in the workshop, documentary filmmakers David Eberts and Helen Cotton were invited to chronicle the new program, led again by Abibata and Dominique.
Samfya’s workshop would yield profound results, all of which are captured in Where the Water Meets the Sky.
Contributor Profile: Erik
Erik is a perpetually curious social innovator. As a serial entrepreneur, Erik knows a thing or two about change. As a co-founder of SocialEarth, Erik hopes to channel his passion for social advocacy into an innovative venue of social awareness for others. Website: SocialEarth
Twitter: @erikeliason
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