Leonor: Mozambique’s Forgotten Generation

A Short Film on Gender Equity and Ocean Governance

Status: In Development / Production (Mozambique)

Leonor: Mozambique’s Forgotten Generation is a short documentary film centered around Leonor Marrengula, a woman based in Jangamo Bay, Mozambique, participating in a gender equity and aquaculture program through Love The Oceans. The film explores how marine conservation, when rooted in community leadership and local knowledge, can become a pathway toward gender equity and ocean governance.

Set against the Indian Ocean coastline, this film follows everyday moments—work, learning, care, and decision-making—to illuminate how women navigate structural barriers while shaping sustainable futures for their families and ecosystems.

Rather than positioning conservation as an external intervention, the film centers on lived experience, cultural context, and self-determination.

Themes

  • Gender equity and women’s leadership

  • Community-led marine conservation

  • Ocean livelihoods and food security

  • Knowledge exchange between science and tradition

  • Justice-centered environmental storytelling

Approach

This film is grounded in collaborative, ethical storytelling. Filming is conducted with consent, transparency, and long-term relationship-building, prioritizing the voice and agency of participants. Visual language emphasizes intimacy, slowness, and place—allowing the story to unfold through Leonor’s perspective rather than narration-driven explanation.

Director’s Statement

My work has shown me that conservation is most effective when communities are not subjects of research, but leaders of change. Leonor: Mozambique’s Forgotten Generation emerges from years of collaboration with Love The Oceans and reflects my commitment to storytelling that bridges science, equity, and lived experience. This project is both a documentary and a conversation about who conservation is for and who gets to be heard.

Credits

Project Timeline

  • Development & Consultation: 2025—26

  • Filming: 2026

  • Post-production: 2026—27

Additional materials, stills, and a trailer will be released as the project progresses.

For collaboration, support, or festival inquiries, please get in touch via the Contact page.

Portraits taken by Mario Guilamba