The Perspectives on Pastoralism Film Festival seeks to deepen understanding of how diverse peoples gain their livelihoods from extensive livestock production. The relationships of pastoralist people and animals and their food production systems reflect an intimate intertwining of culture, economy and ecology in harsh environments such as Africa’s drylands. In such environments, mobility of animals plays a key role. Films of multiple genres – spanning documentary, narrative and experimental – made by pastoralists and/or about pastoralists offer different insights into issues important to pastoralists.

This third session confronts political and economic injustices with the theme, ‘Speaking truth to power: pastoralists’ advocacy’. Nick Lunch, from Insight Share in the UK will share a few words about participatory video and the making of Olosho. After a short animation film introducing pastoralism (CELEP, 2021), there is a short film featuring Shoba Liban, Program Manager of the Pastoralist Women Health and Education non-profit organization based in Isiolo, Kenya (CELEP, 2019). Land grabbing in pastoralist areas is unmasked through two films in this session. Olosho (2015) is a participatory video (PV) made by 6 community members in Loliondo from 5 Maasai clans in northern Tanzania, created with facilitation from InsightShare. In 1992, a hunting company from the United Arab Emirates occupied 1500 km2 of village land in Loliondo to set up a private game reserve beside the Serengeti National Park. Since then, Maasai have been denied access to vital pasture and waterpoints for their herds. The people suffered mass eviction from their villages within the disputed land. The PV training strengthened the Maasai’s self-advocacy to resist land-grabbing by foreign investors.