A vital part of Nature Through Her Eyes’ work is the continued mentorship of filmmakers, accompanying their projects to international distributors to secure financing and facilitate the delivery of films for global public audiences.

Nature Through Her Eyes mentorships enable mentees to foster robust connections with decision-makers and organizations. Under Jacqueline Farmer’s guidance, filmmakers receive support from project inception to funding and production.

To date, several of our mentees have secured National Geographic Storytelling Grants and endorsements from streaming platforms and international co-productions. In 2021, an NTHE team traveled to South Africa to train a group of ten African women storytellers and scientists in underwater cinematography and narrative storytelling as part of a divemaster program financed by NEWF. Before this, there were no African women underwater cinematographers. The project has since become a 2-part international co-production. Looking forward, NTHE will continue to support several individual and collaborative projects.

NTHE continues to mentor and train Erica Rugabandana. Erica is Tanzania’s first woman long-lens wildlife camera operator and director, following prolonged training on camera and documentary writing and production with the NTHE team. In June 2023, she finished her feature documentary Kuishi na Simba (Living with Lions), which tells the story of the human-wildlife conflict between lions and Ikoma villagers living on the boundaries of the Serengeti National Park. It has since received multiple awards and has been showcased at national and international events, educating local communities and fostering meaningful dialogue among stakeholder groups.