Noel Kok and Pragna Parsotam-Kok are refocusing African narratives, one storyteller at a time

Stories of Africa’s wildlife and natural heritage have long captivated audiences around the world, yet these stories have rarely been told by Africans. Filmmakers and National Geographic Explorers Noel Kok and Pragna Parsotam-Kok witnessed the lack of equity within the industry themselves and declared it was time to make a change.

“One of the ways of trying to change human behavior is by trying to change the story,” says Noel. “If the same storytellers have been making the same story for so long, then maybe you need to change the storyteller.” 

In 2017, they co-founded Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) which offers professional development, capacity building, mentorship, and networking opportunities to African filmmakers and storytellers. Over the years, they have built a community of emerging storytellers, called NEWF Fellows, who gain access to the tools and skills needed to succeed within the industry. The Fellows have the opportunity to participate in NEWF Labs that provide specialized training such as dive certification, cinematography, music composition, and science communication. 

In the summer of 2022, Noel and Pragna collaborated with the Society to launch Africa Refocused, a program dedicated to supporting NEWF in their mission to help African storytellers across the continent navigate the global film industry and ultimately ensure current and future African nature and wildlife stories are increasingly told by, and prominently feature, a diverse network of African storytellers and conservation scientists. 

Since its founding, NEWF has grown to a family of more than 220 fellows from 25 countries across the continent and counting. Many Fellows have long been leaders in their fields and have reached several milestones in their diverse work: Marine biologist Jamila Janna from South Africa produced an award-winning film, Zambian wildlife cinematographer Samson Moyo has worked on a number of films in Africa and founded his own production company, and marine scientist and science communicator Nancy Iraba from Tanzania, now a National Geographic Explorer, developed a youth education program that has touched more than 1,500 students. Thirty percent of NEWF Fellows today are marine scientists and storytellers and 30 NEWF Fellows are also Explorers.

In 2023, NEWF also celebrated the opening of the Sodwana Bay Storytelling, Research and Dive Center; better known to NEWF Fellows as “eKhaya,” which translates to “home” in the isi-Xhosa and isi-Zulu languages. eKhaya is locally-led and managed by Silindile “Sli” Mbuyazi—the first local Black African woman to run a facility of this kind, and the second certified divemaster in the area. In Alignment with NEWF’s mission this center will hosts dive certifications, underwater cinematography trainings, and other intensive skill development workshops with unique additions like swimming lessons, film screenings, and other community engagement efforts. Above all, eKhaya is home for Africa’s visual storytellers, scientists, conservationists, and the broader Sodwana Bay community—a home that nurtures their creativity and passion for telling stories through an African lens. 

eKhaya has held 17 labs since its launch. “We have been honored to host a number of high-profile guests, such as the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa and the Durban Consul General,” amongst others, says Pragna. “There has been a sense of pride and dignity created not just for fellows but for the wider Sodwana Bay community.”

Beyond training, the NEWF Fellowship program offers mentorship and networking opportunities, most notably the NEWF Fellows Summit and NEWF Congress, where Fellows gather annually in South Africa for workshops, inspiring panels, film screenings, and opportunities to collaborate. “It’s about trying to be a catalyst,” Noel explains. “It’s about creating and enabling an environment where Fellows or storytellers can become part of this community that works together to contribute towards protecting the planet, towards changing behavior, towards entertaining, inspiring. That’s our dream.” These moments are mission-critical in Pragna’s mind. “Every time we bring together a group of people from countries across the continent,” she says, “they feel connected, and they feel unified because the experience is shared.” 

NEWF’s collaborative ethos funnels into its “culture of exchanges,” which has sparked further partnership opportunities for its fellows with related programs. These include international impact organizations such as Diving with a Purpose, a group of Black scuba divers documenting slave shipwrecks around the world — long form narratives about their work are developed by Explorer Tara Roberts. Other partners include the Philippines' Mind Museum and the Drik Picture Library of Bangladesh.

“Storytelling has existed since the beginning of time,” Pragna highlights. “What’s critical here is the idea of perspective, changing the narrative and the power and access to choose the stories you want to tell, or compose the music, or conduct the research.”

Through Africa Refocused, Noel and Pragna hope to remove barriers to entry, enable access, foster inclusion, and create a culture of equity for African storytellers across the entire continent. “Ultimately,” Noel explains, “what we hope is that this program allows us to inspire millions and billions in Africa to understand that the future is in our hands.” 

ABOUT THE WRITER
For the National Geographic Society: Andrew Rasner was former Senior Manager of Digital Content at the Society. Updated January 2025 by Natalie Hutchison.