Co-founder of Sunshine Cinema Rowan Pybus discusses how his Salzburg Global experience gave him validation and courage to push further ahead
Before becoming a Salzburg Global Fellow, Cape Town-based filmmaker and art-activist Rowan Pybus believed he was doing exactly what he needed to do within his purpose as a film enthusiast. However, while attending a Cultural Innovators Forum program in 2015, he realized he had many changes to make, both in the outside world and within himself.
After establishing multi-award-winning ethical media production company Makhulu Media in 2005, he spearheaded many groundbreaking projects that helped the world see South Africa in a new light, partnering with Greenpeace, WWF, and Google, to name a few. Years later, he recalls the advice he was given - “Don’t work in your business, work on it” - and how this one line enabled him to be a better leader.
“I was working too close to each action,” Rowan reflects. “I was trying to do too much within organizations. My role was to build out big ideas with the team and to help those that do work in the business to achieve their goals.”
Shortly after Makhulu was born, this new way of thinking led to the formation of his public good film company, Sunshine Cinema, which he co-founded with his wife and fellow visual artist, Sydelle Willow-Smith, operational in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.
At Sunshine Cinema, they’ve built a solid team of creative activists who train “Sunbox Ambassadors” working in film, photography, and audience facilitation. The ambassadors host free film screenings and produce current affairs podcasts they share with their WhatsApp community networks. Key themes around gender, land, conservation, economic development, and social cohesion became the focus, and the company began to expand the horizons of everyone they met.
After surviving a horrific car accident, Rowan and Sydelle accelerated their program, infusing a home solar system into an old Land Rover, and set about bringing the best African-made films to rural and urban areas. Out of this came an invention - the Sunbox - which allowed them to hand over the power of a cinema to anyone who felt the urge to wield it. This solar-powered cinema-in-a-box is now in the hands of more than 30 young people all over Southern Africa.
Working “on and not in” the business helped him forge a new path and a solid support system for his teams, which has led to tremendous strides for both Makhulu and Sunshine Cinema despite the pandemic.
While Makhulu laid the foundation for Rowan’s dream, Sunshine Cinema was created to “spark conversation,” particularly because African cinema has grown exponentially across time. However, the upkeep of cinema spaces such as theaters and projection halls has quickly declined. Rowan knew film and storytelling were the perfect media to affect how people behaved for the good of society, but projects such as these with the kind of societal impact he was seeking needed immense injections of funding. Remembering the wise words he was imbued with, he began to work on the company, chasing investment opportunities with new vigor.
“At Sunshine Cinema, we were able to focus on finding investors to help us build out a world first course in partnership with the University of Cape Town. I believe that I would not have had the courage to write messages to powerful people had I not received the validation in my own thinking that I did while attending the Salzburg Global program.
“Today, the course focuses on teaching impact facilitation using African-made films to spark meaningful conversations. We are launching to the public in 2022, and it aims to bring the art of face-to-face conversations across divisions that lead to mutual benefit for all who care to listen, empathize and learn from one another.”
The program is set to feature key filmmakers from across the country in Dylan Valley, Gcina Mhlope, Judy Kibinge, and Anita Khanna in a never-before-attempted impact program that will last six months and be conducted online.
Another takeaway since Rowan attended the program at Salzburg was being exposed to 360-degree video. He took this experience and developed an idea that has come to be known as 360HIV: Choice, the world’s first stigma-free sexual health immersive education experience. He then leveraged his network to get support from Google, UNAIDS, the South African Department of Health, and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bring his idea to life.
What is key to note about this experience is the young people in attendance can choose how the story unfolds. Upon studying their approach later, they realized their mode of delivery increased memory retention of the key information by as much as 70 percent, bringing the project to academic review, pending publication.
In harnessing the power of his own light and enabling others to do the same, Rowan has come to understand the true meanings of impact and activism. Instead of focusing on what he could do on his own, he opened himself up to empowering those around him, and the results will be felt for generations to come. Such is the collective power of storytelling.
