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BLUE ALLIANCE | Honest Film Company Deck
Honest Films Co. is a documentary-focused production company built around real stories.
We make cinematic films that feel grounded and intentional, often working in remote landscapes, conservation spaces, and community environments where authenticity cannot be faked.
❋ Strong Visuals❋ Genuine Emotions❋ Real ConversationsEverything we create is driven by one idea
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Is it HONEST?
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Everything we create is driven by one idea 〰️ Is it HONEST? 〰️
Our Team
Zander Botha
Director and CinematographerZander has spent the past six years directing and shooting documentary films across Africa. His work focuses on conservation, community stories, and organisations doing meaningful work on the ground.
Liam Nesbitt
Cinematographer and EditorLiam works across production and field filming. He brings a strong instinct for story and a practical approach to getting the job done in challenging environments.
OUR FOCUS
Our work focuses on stories rooted in people and place. We are interested in organisations doing meaningful work in the real world, where impact is visible in the lives of the communities involved.
The work Blue Alliance is doing in Pemba is not just about conservation. It is about people being asked to change how they live with the ocean, while still depending on it. It is a story about livelihoods, trade-offs, and the reality of building something that has to work every day.
That is exactly the kind of story we are drawn to tell.
Conservation, wildlife and environmental work
NGOs and social impact organisations
Communities and human stories
Brands doing meaningful work in the world
PROOF OF CONCEPT
‘Silence to be Broken’
A documentary film following the rollout of the Take 5 mental health programme.
The film centres on the people behind the work. By spending time with the Waves for Change team, the champions being trained, the coaches delivering the programme, and the children taking part, the story unfolds through their experiences.
Filmed in the suburbs of Cape Town, the film builds a strong emotional connection to the characters carrying the work forward on the ground. Through these personal stories, the audience comes to understand the impact of Take 5 locally, and the potential it holds for young people around the world.
‘Primeras & Segundas’
A short documentary film exploring the proposed Marine Protected Area in the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago.
The film centres on the people living and working along this coastline. By spending time with local fishing communities, conservation practitioners, and those involved in shaping the MPA, the story unfolds through their lived experiences of a system in transition.
Filmed in northern Mozambique, the film builds a grounded and emotional connection to a place under pressure. Through these personal perspectives, the audience begins to understand the tension between dependence on the ocean and the need to protect it, as well as the realities of introducing conservation in a space where livelihoods are directly affected.
FILM IDEAS FOR BLUE ALLIANCE
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In the waters off Pemba, a line has been drawn.
For generations, the ocean has been a source of food, income, and identity. Now, parts of it are protected. Fishing is restricted. Rules are enforced. And for the people who depend on it, everything begins to shift.
We follow a former fisherman who now works as a ranger inside the Marine Protected Area. Each day, he patrols the same waters he once relied on, enforcing rules on a way of life he understands intimately. At home and within his community, he navigates the quiet tension between who he was and what his role now demands.
Alongside him, we glimpse a system taking shape. Scientists tracking change beneath the surface. New forms of livelihood slowly emerging. A future that promises stability, but asks for belief.
This is not a story about saving the ocean.
It is a story about what it takes to change your relationship with the thing that sustains you.
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The ocean is both provider and pressure.
As fish stocks decline and ecosystems strain, a new system is being built. Marine Protected Areas, scientific monitoring, and alternative livelihoods are introduced with the promise of recovery. But for the communities who live here, change is not theoretical. It is immediate, personal, and uncertain.
We move between the lives of those inside this transition. A marine scientist measuring signs of recovery that are not yet visible above water, carrying the quiet weight of data that takes time to be believed. A Blue Economy officer working to create new forms of income, navigating the gap between opportunity and reality. And individuals within the community weighing what is being gained against what is being lost, not just in numbers, but in identity, memory, and daily survival.
Through their perspectives, a more complex picture emerges. One where progress is uneven, trade-offs are constant, and no single perspective holds the full truth.
Next Steps
BLUE ALLIANCE REVIEWS STUDIO DECK
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TEAM INTRODUCTIONS INITIAL DISCUSSION
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CHARACTER RESEARCH
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CONFIRMATION OF
INTEREST
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TEAM ON GROUND IN
TANZANIA / ZANZIBAR
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PROJECT PROPOSAL
If our work resonates, we would be excited to explore how we could collaborate.