'Children of Honey:' The Hadzabe Want the World to Know Who They Are

What was the last film you watched that pulled you into the world of someone whose path you might have otherwise never crossed? That taught you about a struggle you were thankful to have witnessed afterward? That made you reconsider a belief or even take action to effect change?

At theInternational Film Festival and Forum for Human Rights in Geneva (FIFDH), filmmakers from around the globe gather around one conviction: stories can change a world in which human rights are undermined by encroaching fascism, destructive wars, and climate catastrophes. Making films around these issues is the first step. The second is bringing them into conversation with communities and changemakers to shift mindsets and policies. Both need funding that filmmakers often do not have.

To support storytelling with a human rights focus, FIFDH launched Impact Days, an industry program that connects filmmakers with NGOs, issue-driven foundations, and industry professionals. Once their project is selected, they are invited to webinars and workshops to refine their impact goals: What can this film do beyond screening at film festivals? Finally, they travel to Geneva and pitch to an international audience of filmmakers, organizations, policymakers and funders.

Out of 100 submissions, one African pitch made it to this year's Impact Days: Children of Honey. A project by Tanzanian director Jigar Ganatra and Immanuel Musa Marco, this film is a collaboration with the Hadzabe, an indigenous hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania struggling to maintain their culture and language while losing the ancestral land that has been their home for thousands of years. It won the initiative's first prize, the StoryBoard Impact Award.

The film's teaser immersed us in the Hadzabe's daily lives and intimate conversations. We see them carving bows, rapping insults against helicopters in the sky, and finding honey and water in the trees of stunning natural landscapes. As is often the case in African storytelling, this pitch brought the audience to laughter, rather than tears, while stressing the serious situation the Hadzabe are facing.

"Narratives of poverty, corruption, war, famine and disease taint many people's perspectives of Africa. But when you're from the continent, most of the time, that's not the reality. We look at the vibrant side, the beauty, the peace of living," Ganatra tells OkayAfrica. He has been working with indigenous communities for 10 years, filming in South America, Asia, and 15 communities in Africa, where he has observed that storytelling lives in music, funny stories and exaggeration.

The sound of the Hadza language and storytelling, combining various voices into a single, multilayered soundscape, is one of the film's unique features. "They have a song about everything in nature. Almost all of them have moral and Hadza values baked into them: egalitarianism, helping each other out, and autonomy," says Ganatra. "It's like music is their holy book. When they say words or sing them, you experience something in your body. It disrupts your way of thinking."

On a panel, selection committee member Prince O. Nyambok II spoke on behalf ofDocumentaryAfrica, joking that African filmmakers who have never heard of an impact strategy will quickly create one if that gives them access to a grant. On a more serious note, he explains that the concept of social impact has been part of African filmmaking long before it became a funding opportunity.

This response led to the creation of the Hadza Media and Culture Hub, which trains indigenous storytellers, gives them narrative control, and ultimately produced Children of Honey. "In countries like ours, community and culture are often made into a commodity for exploitative tourism," says Ganatra. "It's a double-edged sword because it has also made them feel proud and interesting."

The film benefits from the diverse expertise of its team. Producer Natalie Humphreys contributes her background in zoology and natural history to the project. Meanwhile, impact producer Simona Nickmanova applies her linguistics and global hospitality training to ensure the film creates positive change. Through her research on tourism as a positive force, she's developing frameworks that empower the Hadzabe to control and benefit from tourism rather than being exploited by it.

Children of Honey is in early production and will be released in March 2026. With the award it takes home from Geneva, the team plans to equip the media hub and strengthen their impact and preservation work.

After attending last year's Impact Days, the Egyptian documentary The Brink of Dreams is competing in this year's feature documentary selection. Following a theater troupe of Coptic village girls whose plays address issues like early marriage, domestic violence and girls' education, it became the first documentary to be commercially released.

Magda, a protagonist, shares how these screenings changed attitudes in her village. "Before, people considered our plays empty words, but now many want to try doing theater with us," she tells OkayAfrica. The film brought issues to light that many did not see or believe existed. "I couldn't have imagined that it could be this powerful and have such an impact. Seeing this film screened here made me understand the extent of how important I am."

Ganatra advises African filmmakers who want their project to be at the next Impact Days to make themselves known to programmers and put a strong effort into the story package. "There are amazing filmmakers on the continent who have access that nobody can buy," he says. "The weakest point about African filmmaking is the packaging of the story. My advice is: even if it's not making you money right now, work on the story and create a well-thought-out story they cannot refuse."