Film TED Fellows

Jonah: A big fish story told with visual flair by TED Fellow Kibwe Tavares

Posted by:

Two best friends inadvertently turn their hometown in Zanzibar into a tourist attraction, in this short film directed by TED Fellow Kibwe Tavares. How did they do it? By taking a chance photograph of a gigantic fish — far bigger than a human being — leaping out of the nearby water. The film, called Jonah, brings together stunning, surreal underwater footage of said fish with creative time-lapse animation on-land to tell the story of friends Mbwana and Juma. In many ways, it’s a story about time’s pull on us — a 50-year tale which unfolds in under 18 minutes. Perhaps Tavares internalized the time length of TED Talks?

Read the TED Blog’s Q&A with this animator, filmmaker and architect, whose short film Robots of Brixton previously won a special jury prize at Sundance »