Beyond the River Edutainment Strategy

"Beyond the River" is based on the real-life story of two canoeists who come from very different backgrounds: Steve, a seasoned white canoeist intent on winning a 10th gold medal, and Duma, a young black man who avoids drifting into a life of crime by taking up paddling. Both are dealing with their own personal challenges. One of them has a marriage on the verge of collapse; the other is on the run from the law and his life generally. The film explores how they form a strong bond, overcoming racial, cultural, and physical differences to win a gold medal in the doubles race of the 2014 Dusi Canoe Marathon. The story shows how it is only through understanding their pasts and the traumas and realities of each other's lives that they are able to connect and perform as a team.

The development of the film (and the whole What's your Story Campaign) involved a number of processes:

Formative research and conceptualising "Beyond the River"
At the outset of the project, Heartlines began with formative research that would ultimately result in the "Beyond the River" film and the supporting What's Your Story? campaign. The formative research process included a literature review and a series of focus groups, which informed the campaign objective, approach, media formats, and main messages that would be used in the campaign.

The literature review was designed to get a complete picture of the work that was being done on reconciliation globally and to understand the key factors that enabled reconciliation within these interventions. The literature review sought to understand the key reconciliatory theories, principles, and narratives that were being used at the time and how these were being implemented in South Africa and across the world. This process identified several models of reconciliation, including individual reconciliation, societal reconciliation, and restorative justice approaches. The literature review also identified that the establishment of the rule of law, restoration of relationships, socio-economic redress, and robust and sustained debate are four elements critical to a reconciliation process. It also looked into the role of storytelling in dealing with trauma.

The literature review concluded that the reconciliation project needed to focus on restoring relationships and that it must speak to individuals and communities and encourage them to actively participate in a reconciliation project. By focusing on restoring relationships, the Heartlines campaign could deal with people's beliefs, awareness, actions, and feelings.

The focus group sessions also showed that there was an appetite for a national reconciliation campaign that interrogated race and ethnic relations in South Africa. Based on these sessions, the decision was made to develop a campaign that would seek to initiate dialogue between South Africans to drive a national reconciliation project.

Message Design and Development
After analysing the literature review and insights from the focus groups, the team hosted a message design workshop that included the project team, key stakeholders, and the creative team. They identified 10 key messages that the film and the Whats Your Story? campaign should promote. The messages included: honesty in coming to terms with our past; development of a culture of love, respect, acceptance, and empathy for others; and gratitude for the peaceful transition to a non-racial democracy. These were distilled into three key messages:

• Celebrating difference: the value of inclusion and acceptance
• Keeping it real: the value of authenticity
• Beyond indifference: The value of empathy and compassion

The project team developed a message brief that included these three messages and detailed information that unpacked each key message, a summary of the literature review, key insights from the focus groups, and background information. This message brief was used to conceptualise the details of the story in "Beyond the River", providing the dramatic details to flesh out the real-life story of the two canoeists in what was envisioned to be an authentic, engaging, and compelling way.

Pretesting
Heartlines used a vigorous testing approach throughout the project to ensure that the final film was authentic and resonated with the key audiences. This process started with a script reading workshop. For example, following this process, it was decided that certain aspects of the script could be removed and one of the characters was unnecessary.

Public Screenings and Discussions
Following the production and the public release of the film in 2017 (across cinemas and through streaming services), the film has been used as a starting point for What's Your Story? projects across South Africa. It has formed part of screenings in churches, workplaces, and schools to encourage audiences to discuss the issues and share their stories. To stimulate discussion amongst youth, an interactive "Beyond the River Resource for Church Youth Groups" was also developed. It features scenes from the film and includes a variety of lessons designed to help youth groups realise the importance of building deep, meaningful relationships, while exploring the power of diversity. In addition, Heartlines developed a short discussion guide for the workplace: "Beyond the River Workplace Discussion Guide" (June 2021).

Multimedia Strategy
"Beyond the River" was the anchor for the campaign and launched the campaign nationally, yet it is complemented by media components that are designed to mobilise South Africans to participate in telling their own stories. Other components included a digital campaign based on six videos that captured the stories of people living in South Africa who experienced reconciliation as a result of sharing their stories, and a social media and radio campaign. See Related Summaries below for a description of all the communication components of the What's Your Story? Campaign.

Monitoring and Evaluation
Heartlines contracted Singizi Consulting Africa to evaluate the success of the What's your Story? programme. Singizi used a mixed-methods approach to data collection that included: a retrospective baseline survey (formative evaluation) and a summative evaluation that gathered data on perceptions of the programme, activities conducted since exposure to the programme, and perceptions of change as a result of the programme; qualitative in-depth interviews; and eight qualitative case studies. To read the Summative Evaluation report, see Related Summaries below.

Peace and Reconciliation

Context and rationale for What's your Story? and the Beyond the River film:

Between 1948 and 1994, South Africa was a country divided by the apartheid system, which institutionalised racial segregation enforced through authoritarian rule. Apartheid ensured that the minority white population controlled the political, social, and economic life of all South Africans. People of colour could not vote, had to live in designated areas, and could not attend the same schools as white children.

South Africa emerged from apartheid rule in 1994, with the election of Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected president. But building reconciliation was not an easy task, as there were massive divisions between black and white people. The conflict during apartheid resulted in horrific acts of violence and human rights abuses, as well as massive economic and political inequality.

The Government of National Unity began the hard work of reconciliation in a deeply divided country. In 1995, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to promote reconciliation and forgiveness between the perpetrators and the victims of apartheid. It was seen as an important avenue for South Africans to come to terms with their past and forge a future that was based on reconciliation. The TRC was premised on the notion that remembering is critical to healing. The TRC provided a safe space for people to tell their stories, and it was underpinned by a reconciliation strategy that created space for reparation, restitution, memorialisation, and prosecution to drive the transformation agenda in South Africa.

Although the TRC is considered successful at establishing the truth and confirming what really transpired during apartheid, there is debate about whether the TRC achieved the aim of reconciliation. South Africa is still a deeply unequal society, prejudices and inequality persist, and misconceptions continue to divide people. There are still high levels of unemployment and inequality. The What's Your Story project forms part of Heartlines' efforts to continue the work of the TRC.

"Beyond the River" has won multiple awards: the Golden Horn Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography and the BRICS Film Festival Award for Best Actor.