Greeting fellow Earthlings!
My name is Annemarie Terblanche, and this is my website. But these are not my stories – they’re stories of all the remarkable faces in the brilliant throngs of people I’ve been lucky enough to meet.
If any parts of the stories are mine, it’s these two: My long history as a working filmmaker, and my background as an immigrant (many times over). My husband and I have lived and worked in four countries, and on four different landmasses. And each time we changed nations and began the process anew, I found that the last change had prepared me for the next. I fell in love with the unimaginable diversity of our world, and with the beautiful contradiction at the heart of it all: all of us are different, and all of us are the same. Every culture was filled with totally distinct rituals, clothes, food, and beliefs – and yet as I explored every new little human world, I was reminded time and again of how much we had in common. “Fed with the same food, hurt by the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer…” I realised that every person has a story to tell, and every culture has a history to share – and the more both are chronicled and remembered, the more that common humanity stands tall. I’ve worked as a television writer and director for 35 years, in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and England. I’m trying my hand at this online venture to tell the types of stories big broadcasters often don’t carry – and because, for all social media’s ills, I think that something special still exists in the way we can stumble across something special and unexpected while scrolling on our phones.
I hope these stories touch you as the people in them have touched me. A better world is possible – and in some cases, here already. It lives in the hearts of the earthlings!
My name is Annemarie Terblanche, and this is my website. But these are not my stories – they’re stories of all the remarkable faces in the brilliant throngs of people I’ve been lucky enough to meet.
If any parts of the stories are mine, it’s these two: My long history as a working filmmaker, and my background as an immigrant (many times over). My husband and I have lived and worked in four countries, and on four different landmasses. And each time we changed nations and began the process anew, I found that the last change had prepared me for the next. I fell in love with the unimaginable diversity of our world, and with the beautiful contradiction at the heart of it all: all of us are different, and all of us are the same. Every culture was filled with totally distinct rituals, clothes, food, and beliefs – and yet as I explored every new little human world, I was reminded time and again of how much we had in common. “Fed with the same food, hurt by the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer…” I realised that every person has a story to tell, and every culture has a history to share – and the more both are chronicled and remembered, the more that common humanity stands tall. I’ve worked as a television writer and director for 35 years, in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and England. I’m trying my hand at this online venture to tell the types of stories big broadcasters often don’t carry – and because, for all social media’s ills, I think that something special still exists in the way we can stumble across something special and unexpected while scrolling on our phones.
I hope these stories touch you as the people in them have touched me. A better world is possible – and in some cases, here already. It lives in the hearts of the earthlings!
