MEET THE ALUMNI
Faith Musembi
Producer/Director
Faith is a Kenyan director who dreamed of making blue-chip natural history shows. But despite thousands of hours of natural history television being filmed in Kenya, she found few opportunities open for Kenyans to join these teams in creative roles.
However, that all changed with Queens – the first of Wildstar’s productions to take part in the Academy.
She was initially brought on to the production as a freelance director and was mentored and supported in this role, culminating in her joining the project as Producer/Director of her own episode; becoming the first ever black woman to take this role on a major landmark series.
She was mentored by Series Producer and Executive Producer Chloe Sarosh, and Executive Producer and Wildstar Films co-founder Vanessa Berlowitz. Since her time on Queens, Faith has moved to the UK and been working as a Producer/Director at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol.
“I had privileged access to some of the most accomplished minds in natural history filmmaking. An access that saw my skillset nurtured, developed and accelerated in a way that would have otherwise never happened.
So when I say that that the mentorship support changed my life, I am not being hyperbolic.”
Faith’s episode ‘Behind the Queens’ is available to watch on National Geographic and Disney+.
Erica Rugabandana
Conservationist and Cinematographer
Erica is a Tanzanian conservationist who has dedicated her career to protecting wildlife, but who also had ambitions to become a wildlife cinematographer.
Being part of the Wildstar Academy gave her hands-on experience with professional filming equipment and specialist cameras.
She gained on-location training with principal Queens cinematographers, including in night-filming with specialist Justine Evans – with Erica becoming the first ever Tanzanian national to film in the Ngorogoro Crater at night.
Since Erica’s time with the Wildstar Academy she has gone on to film and direct her own multi award-winning film ‘Living with Lions’, and now runs her own production company Siima Films.
“This meant a lot to me as the opportunity awaken my career. Filming with international crew, filming using professional kit - all this was such a great honour. It marked my career growth and it was from this, I was able to produce my own film on human lion conflict.”