''Children of Honey'' turns heads at Geneva Film Festival

Around a hundred film projects were submitted for the “Impact Days” program, organized as part of the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights.

Only 12 documentary films made the shotlist.

“Children of Honey”, about Tanzania's Hadzabe people fighting to preserve their language is one of them.

The Hadzabe are one of the oldest hunter-gatherer tribes in the world.

Caught in a battle between the preservation of the old ways and the lure of modern conveniences, the community is engaged in an existential war of survival.

“When I first met the Hadza, I immediately realize that they have something which all of us have lost, which is a true connection to the natural world and also to each other. They have a very egalitarian social fabric. When the idea of the film came out, the Hadza said that : “this need to be big, we want the world to know about our story be cause for far too long, we have been portrayed in a way that we dont like and also our story hasn't been heard.” Its a great opportunity for us to be in front of people that can really support us, not just on the film Side but on the real change maker side,” said Jigar Ganatra, “Children of honey”'s co-director

In Geneva, directors and producers have a platform to defend their work to funders, but also to committed international players concerned by the struggles addressed in their films.

“As an impact producer obviously, we are working together with the Hadza to understand where are their most urgent needs right now. And how we can support already existing grass roots intiatives. They are very keen on preserving their language, as well as preserving their habitat and making sure that they are telling their own story,” said Simona Nickmanova, an impact producer on the project.

The talents share one thing in common; they use film to foster change in communities.