Impact Days Catalogue
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By Jigar Ganatra and Emmanuel Musa Marco

Children of Honey

Olanakwe sa Baalako
IMPACT DAYS

Children of Honey follows three young Hadza friends – Nd!uba, Nguilabe, and Embilibi – as alcohol addiction and dark tourism threaten to tear life apart in their once peaceful, egalitarian community. With 90% of their ancestral land lost and modern pressures mounting, they must decide whether to hold onto their ancient traditions or be pulled into modernity. Alcohol, which the Hadza cannot metabolise, has become a devastating force, causing violence and disintegration of family bonds. As the community faces climate change, land loss, and internal collapse, these three young Hadza must navigate an uncertain future. The decisions they make over the next two summers will shape not only their own lives but the future of the Hadza people. Co-directed by members of the Hadza youth, for the first time, we are invited to experience life in one of the last true hunter-gatherer societies in a film that offers an unprecedented, intimate look at an ancient culture on the brink of transformation.

Section : Impact Days
Country : Tanzania
Original languages : Swahili, Hadza
Directors
Jigar Ganatra (Tanzania / Tanzania)
Emmanuel Musa Marco (Tanzania)
Producers
Natalie Humphreys (United Kingdom / United Kingdom)
Storyboard Studios
Completion
November 2026
Impact Statement
Children of Honey amplifies the voices of the Hadzabe and other hunter-gatherer communities around the world, empowering them to lead their own solutions. Through training and access to professional equipment, we enable the community to tell their own stories on their own terms and to create and store valuable digital artefacts that help preserve their language, culture and heritage. Our impact campaign supports Hadza-led initiatives such as the revival of their endangered Hadzane language, community-driven conservation efforts and addressing the challenges of mass tourism. By celebrating Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Hadzabe’s unique lifestyle, we aim to inspire a shift in how global audiences perceive nature - not as a resource to exploit, but as a home, and a spiritual place, we all are inherently part of.
We are Hadzabe and we want the world to know who we are.
Impact Goals
  1. Language & Culture Revival
    2. Creating Hadza Culture & Media centre and facilitating digital storytelling workshops in photography, filmmaking and music production to empower Hadza youth to preserve their heritage and express themselves creatively, on their own terms.
  2. Protection of Hadza Habitat & Foodbasket
    3. Supporting community-driven conservation efforts like the Village Game Scouts that safeguard Hadza ancestral lands and sustain the traditional food basket consisting of wild game, honey, fruits and tubers for future generations.
  3. Reimagining Tourism
    4. Stopping the exploitative and extractive unregulated tourism and establishing ethical protocols to ensure respectful cultural exchange that truly benefits the community, rather than causing harm.
Impact Strategy
    Our impact campaign is designed to empower the Hadza with tools to document their own stories, advocate for their rights, and implement sustainable solutions for cultural preservation, ethical tourism, and general community well-being. The issues facing the Hadza today are urgent and that is why we have started the Impact Campaign even before the start of the film production. The strategy includes:
  • The Impact goals are community-driven and our role as an external team is to support the implementation, led by the Hadza leadership
  • We host community screenings and discussions for women, youth and elders across various Hadza camps to inform the next phase of this Impact Campaign
  • We established an ‘alliance’ of organisations, academics and local government bodies, that are actively working to support this vulnerable community. Through quarterly meetings, we work to ensure transparency and alignment on community goals, timelines and strategy - making collaboration more effective, and accelerating positive impacts for the community.
  • We launched a fully equipped Hadza Media Center in Yaeda Valley, which provides ongoing capacity building trainings in stills photography, digital storytelling and music production for the community (launched in September 2025), allowing Hadzabe to own their own narrative even in digital spaces.
  • We serve as an incubator for Hadza-led language revitalisation project called the Ishishimo School, which aims to use digital tools blended with traditional Hadza storytelling, to revitalise the use of the unique Hadzane click language.
  • We support the community in developing and implementing their guidelines and protocols for ethical tourism - for tourguides, tour operators and other stakeholders to respect Hadza traditions, dignity, and community boundaries and to ensure the community benefits from the growing tourism influx.
Contact
Primary contact
Simona Nickmanova (Slovakia / Tanzania): simona.nickman@gmail.com

Film funders
Screen Scotland
The StoryBoard Collective

Broadcasters
BBC Storyville

NGOs & International Organisations
African School of Storytelling (AFRISOS)

Experts & Academics
Hunter Gatherer Education Advocacy Group

Other
Documentary Campus
IDA – International Documentary Association

Film funders
Screen Scotland
The StoryBoard Collective

Broadcasters
BBC Storyville

NGOs & International Organisations
African School of Storytelling (AFRISOS)

Experts & Academics
Hunter Gatherer Education Advocacy Group

Other
Documentary Campus
IDA – International Documentary Association