Do you believe everyone has a story to tell? Do you know that you too, have a story to tell no matter how much you may tell yourself and others, you are not interesting?
Don’t take my word for it, take Tamarin Gerriety’s word for it. The filmmaker/director/producer is of earnest opinion there is not a single person who hasn’t a story to tell. It is for this reason that Documinute, a series of mini-documentaries about people, cultures, hobbies, industries, environments and life in the 21st century started.
It is based around empathy and ‘passing the mic’ to those who would not otherwise get a chance. “I think for the average person stories from our fellow citizens are probably more important than the news because of the sense of connection they create,” she said, adding people live very insular lives in our country mainly due to security and Documinute gives people a chance to hear and be heard.
After their work was featured on Humans of New York about four years ago, Documinute’s social media page gained 50 000 new followers in under 24 hours and its positive effects on society has only since grown. When it was started, length of videos allowed on Instagram was capped at one-minute long. For her, the duration is perfect though because as she put it, people spend a lot of time, consuming content and move on very quickly, the shorter the video, the more likely someone is to watch it all the way through.
The Westdene-based documentarian described how they document all people, some doing seemingly extraordinary things from all walks of life, and even animals. “We once made a Documinute about a painting pig named Pigcasso based in Franschoek.”
Through documenting all these stories, she has not only nurtured the skill of actively listening with a deep sense of empathy, but has gained friends too. Through it, she also learned that our society is quite guarded, teaching her to lower her own boundaries and let people in more.
Documinute’s goal is to keep telling these stories, stories that have helped change lives, because they need to be told. Gerriety’s other goal is to get sponsored so she can make this a full-time focus. “I want to ensure that Documinute becomes a platform where everyone wins, because if we aren’t all winning, then we need to change things up.”
