Web series explores creative sector during the pandemic
Collective Productions has released all five episodes of the web series, ‘Walking Forward’, which features creative entrepreneur Ndinomholo Ndilula as he engages some of Namibia’s most incredible minds and talents who share what they do, not only to walk through the global pandemic, but to walk forward into an unknown and thrilling future.
Walking Forward is a documentary web series produced by Collectives Productions and features creatives from casting, fashion, music, visual arts and dance disciplines.
The docuseries follows the model of iconic investigative journalist TV programmes, specifically leaning on South Africa’s long-running Carte Blanche and looking behind the scenes of these cultural subsectors to showcase those who took the restrictions that life in COVID-19 times stipulates and turned them into opportunities.
Ndilula said although COVID-19 has revealed the critical flaws in Namibia’s creative ecosystem, it has also reinforced how synonymous the characteristics of ingenuity and dogged persistence are to the Namibian creative worker and the creative environment.
“When cinemas, theatres, clubs, dance halls and comedy clubs were shut around the world, it was evident that the status quo would not hold. On the ground, Covid caused production processes to stall, which halted support service functions and destabilized the distribution processes that had for decades made up this status quo,” he said.
Through ‘Walking Forward’ Ndilula said he was offered the opportunity to delve into Windhoek’s creative ecosystem and explore how a small selection of creative organizations and individuals are maintaining their resilience during the pandemic.
Producer Tim Huebschle said, “in a nutshell, the idea is to understand the impact COVID-19 had and continues to have on the arts & cultural industries, but instead of lamenting the reality, ‘Walking Forward’ tell stories of hope, stories of finding a creative way to deal with the situation, stories that celebrate those who keep on walking forward.”
The web series is available for free viewing on YouTube. The series is supported by the Namibia Film Commission and Bank Windhoek.
‘Walking Forward’ presenter and creative entrepreneur, Ndinomholo Ndilula.
