Highlights of my recent trip to @limpopolipadi with @ubwecs π it was honestly the best: interactions with staff, location, and camping with my peers were all amazing. Here are the moments I captured that stuck with me #limpopolipadi #motlhalataulodge #adventure #camping #botswanatourism
Basezana Monyamane didnβt set out to become a documentary filmmakerβbut once she discovered the power of telling real stories, there was no turning back. βI realised the real power to shape the story was behind the scenes,β she reflects. What began as a love for performance evolved into a devotion to truth, ethics, and human connection.
Her debut documentary, When Values Shift, premiered at Wildscreen Festival and marked a turning pointβone that placed people at the centre of landscapes often reduced to spectacle. βI am just a Motswana telling another Motswanaβs story,β she says. βMy job was to give her a platform to express her voice, not mine.β
Filmed in the Okavango Delta under the AFRISOS expedition, the work resists the illusion of objectivity. Instead, it embraces care, consent, and collaboration. βDocumentary filmmaking is like a puzzle,β she explains. βThe pieces are already thereβI just help put them together.β
For Basezana, the Delta is not just wildlifeβit is community, language, song, and memory. βI hope people see the locals as ordinary human beings just like themselves,β she says. And perhaps that is what defines her practice best: honesty over spectacle, people over performance, and storytelling rooted in respect.
Her advice to future filmmakers is simple and hard-earned: βItβs better to say βI triedβ than βI regretted.ββ
#botswanafilmmakers #botswanadocumentary #womeninfilmmaking #afrisos #thestoryeditorial
When Values Shift explores the life of Resemelwa Flora, a basket weaver and mokoro poler, who left school in standard six to help her family.
Looking back, she sometimes wishes she could have finished school and become a tour guide, sharing the beauty of the Okavango Delta with visitors from all over the world. There are no means for people her age to return to school, and she copes with the despair of her unrealised dream by poling her mokoro.
This film was created by Basezana Monyamane (@recordsfrombase ) during the Expedition Filmmaking Workshop in Botswana this June, a training programme run by @greatspineofafrica and @afrisos with on ground support from @nkashibw and mentorship from @jiganatra@siminickman@vos_films and @thescatterbrainza
A big thanks to @sonymea and @sonyalphasa for their support which made it possible for these filmmakers to bring their powerful stories to life.
A Bachelor of Digital Media graduate at last π₯³
This course that I loved so much gave me a wholesome experience. I gained important academic and media skills. But most importantly , I discovered my true self, made lifelong friendships, and learned how to coexist with people from diverse backgrounds.
I will forever be thankful for my time at the University of Botswana. It was like no other!
#graduate2025 #mmadikolo
Maun with Managa π We came to Maun to clean up different parts of the town and educate students from various schools about conservation (the objective being to plant that seed early into their young minds)but the experience became so much more than that.
Spending a week camping and working alongside my peers, all brought together by our love for the club and its conservation mandate, made it truly special. Managa ke lo rata ka go fela πππ special shoutout to Rusty Gate Garndens for hosting our chill sessions
#Maun #youth #botswana
My first Wildscreen was so cool ngl. I got to screen my first ever film there and I met really interesting people from all over the world. @wildscreenorg film festival is one of my highlights from this week π― #wsfb25
