The Little Fish and the Crocodile

“If you want to discover a new universe, you must either walk through the wilderness of a forest or look through the eyes of a child.”

CULTURE

PEOPLE

1 MIN READ

DATE

JUNE 10, 2023

AUTHOR

Stefanie ‘Steffi’ Plattner

A film director and producer and founder of Storming Donkey, Steffi is a trained actor, developed a multi-award-winning feature film Hördur, and operates the non-profit organisation Tales of Us.

This story was compiled by the children of an elementary school in Mbomo: Sanza Mobimb and members of its educational team. In Lingala, “Sanza Mobimba” means ‘full moon’, and it's exactly at this crucial moment that the friendship between the little fish and the crocodile reaches its limit: “The laws of nature apply to everyone and everyone has to respect them”.

This short film was created through a series of educational exchanges, in order to encourage kids to draw from the elements of nature,

Over the course of several workshops, the children in this film progressed from initial character creation, to story development and film production. All creative content, including art direction and stage design has come from the children themselves. Adorned in costumes made from elements of their home, the children are the protagonists in their own adaptation of this traditional Congolese fable.

The Little Fish and the Crocodile was featured and awarded in more than a dozen international film festivals, including winning at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. It was also shown in several museum installations, including the Barberini Museum & Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, was featured in a segment on PBS Newshour, and continues to be shared on digital festivals for kids all over the world.

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