Branded Documentary
SPARE | Land, Water, Life
Category:
Documentary
Client:
VNV
Location:
Qena, Egypt
Where the land shapes a way of life
Over the course of several trips to Qena, Upper Egypt, I worked as a one-man crew, following farmers and observing the rhythms of their everyday lives; lives deeply tied to the land, water, seasons and what they are able to grow.
The film was made with VNV as part of SPARE, documenting their work supporting small farmers through carbon reduction initiatives and the carbon credit market. Mainly focusing on farmers experience transitioning from Diesel powered irrigation to solar powered irrigation.
What stayed with me most was how closely everything was connected. The land isn't simply where people work; it shapes livelihoods, routines and generations of knowledge. And for small farmers in Upper Egypt, the effects of a changing climate aren't something distant or abstract, they're already on the front lines of it.
“Our land maybe far from the Nile river, cut from the main electric grid but we have the sun..”
01.LAND
02.WATER
03.LIFE
Creative Approach
Rather than approaching the film as an explanation of solar irrigation or carbon markets, I wanted to begin with the farmer and his relationship with the land.
The story follows Mohamed, a farmer in Upper Egypt, where access to water, changing weather patterns and the rising cost of farming are experienced as part of everyday life. His own story became the narrative thread through which the wider themes of climate change, diesel dependency and the transition to solar-powered irrigation could unfold naturally.
The visual approach was observational and grounded in his environment: following Mohamed into his land, watching him work, tracing water from the well through the fields, and contrasting the noise and smoke of diesel pumping with the quiet simplicity of solar power.
By keeping the camera close to the farmer, the film turns an abstract story about carbon reduction into something tangible: what a transition to cleaner energy can mean for one person, his livelihood and the land he depends on.
