Filming the bigger picture
Around twenty years ago, brothers Damon and Craig Foster started Foster Brother Productions. They had a dream to make films that showcased Africa, but didn’t know if it was a viable business option.
“We find people whose life work and daily interaction expresses a bigger picture,” explains Damon. “There’s a power that’s in Africa: you can sense it particularly in rural environments, in nature. We find people who have a sense of that power and make documentaries about them.”
Powerful small stories
“In our world, in our business, it’s the small stories that are powerful,” he continues. “People always tap into the big story that’s easy to access – something like climate change. But it’s the small everyday stories that connect us to each other, creating understanding, while emphasising the wider concern. Those are hard to get to…” The power of these films is in understanding and illustrating the small stories – opening the door to cultures, environments and people that would otherwise remain hidden. “Once you’ve understood the small story – the person who has to walk further for water each day because of climate change – you have greater empathy,” Damon says.
“Foster Brother Productions tries to express the power of the relationship between nature and humans in an African context. Our passion is to tap into the indigenous knowledge systems and inherent wisdom that express a new side of Africa – and to show the relevance of nature even in an urban modern context.”
A website to connect people
The Foster Brothers use their website to spread this message around the world. “We see our website as a gateway to the world: people can interact directly with our work – be challenged and immersed in it – no matter where they are,” says Damon. “The price we’ve paid for technology has often removed the people side of things, but it’s important to look at how it’s brought us together, too.”
While Damon and Craig are focused on their film-making, their website runs in the background, sharing their stories with the world.
“Our relationship with xneelo is really the relationship with our website, which is almost 20 years old. They’re obviously doing stuff behind the scenes that we don’t know about – people still relate to our site and access it, from the jungles of South America and all across the world. It’s an amazing resource for us: it enhances the experience for people who want to understand more about what we do.”
