An Interview with Faith Musembi & Sophie Darlington from ‘Queens’

Queens' Director Faith Musembi and Director of Photography Sophie Darlington film elephants from the vehicle. (National Geographic for Disney/Rachael Kinley)

Faith Musmebi and Sophie Darlington are names that are well-known in the industry. For they are both accomplished creatives behind the camera. But their current project, Queens, where Faith served as Director and Sophie as Director of Photography, is quite the important one, and we here at NTG were fortunate enough to sit down with both of them to discuss this revolutionary series. 
 
John Betancourt: What was it that attracted each of you to work on this project?
 
Faith Musembi: Um, for me, I think just straight up, my background, I'd never worked on anything like this because Queens is a premium wildlife show that, the ambition of how it was going to be made was going to be completely different from how other traditional wildlife series had been made. So, my aspiration was to work on this groundbreaking series, it sounded groundbreaking in the pitch. And now that we're here, it truly is, and has been, and we're hoping it will continue to be groundbreaking. 
 
Sophie Darlington: I was really excited to get to work with people like Faith, because I've worked in this industry for 30 years as a cinematographer, and as a DP. And what I've noticed there is an absence of people, and so Queens very much our ethos is not only to show this amazing way that females lead in nature, but also to upskill, and to ally ourselves with talent like Faith like Aaron, and Tanya, and actually leave legacy because when I started, there was very few people who looked like me, but now after Queens, I’m hoping that there is going to be this incredible legacy, because people are going to see Faith see that she went on this journey from being a field director on ‘Savanna’ Queens, to producing and directing her own episode, ‘Behind the Queens’, which is just an amazing story. So, we're hoping for a whole new wealth of interest. It’s going to appeal to a very, we're hoping a really diverse audience. And we were so lucky on the project to work with a load of our male allies who were like, “Yes! We need more voices in this, we need different voices”. And so, this idea of collaboration… Queens IS collaboration. It's brilliant.
 
John Betancourt: What does it mean to each of you, to be part of a project that is this trailblazing?
 
Sophie Darlington: it's trailblazing. It's inspirational. It's revelatory. And for me, it's so important because I have had a period of my -- I've worked for my 30 years, but actually now… it's a time in the world where we need to pay attention to the world, to the natural world. And if we can get people to feel and to engage in nature, in a different way and a different generation, that would be an amazing thing. And I think Faith put it beautifully in the ‘Behind the Queens’ episode when she was talking about Selengei, the beautiful blind elephant that passed. And well, it's your story, Faith. So, you tell it.
 
Faith Musembi: I think, I’m essentially saying, if people could feel how I felt about Selengei, then we'd have so many people, doing what they can to save the species and to make a difference because we are living in a time where we need all hands-on deck. And up until recently, there's only been a specific voice or a specific group of people that are associated with conservation and caring for these animals. And with the state of the world, we just need people from across all borders to be involved in the storytelling. And because there's something to be said for different diverse perspectives, we, yeah, we just need as many people as possible to rally.
 
Sophie Darlington: The more voices, the better. We need to reach as broad as we can and to include… it's a no brainer, it's an absolute no brainer. And the series is stronger for it. It's a stellar, trailblazing series, which I hope will blow people's socks off.
 
John Betancourt: Last question I have for each of you today, what are each of you, most proud of when it comes to your work on this. 
 
Faith Musembi: Oh, my goodness, I would have to say I'm proudest of the authenticity of the stories and the ‘Behind the Queens’ episode. Because it took a lot of, I think courage and bravery from National Geographic and also from some of the other executive producers to allow that story to be told the way it is. Because usually the instinct when you're doing these behind-the-scenes episodes is to you know, make it really sexy and macho. Oh, and you know, it’s very action driven and all of that. And there are elements of that. It's really cool. But then we will also like to linger on some of the stories and to just allow, allow those stories just to be told in a gentle fashion. which reflects the people the stories were being told of. So, I'd say I'm proudest of that because of I've shared the film with some of the people that are featured on it. And they're also proud of how they've been represented. And for me, that's everything. If I've done something, and then I show it to them, and they're like, “Oh, that's not me at all.” I would have felt that's a failure. So, for them to feel proud of how the world's going to see them. That's everything to me.
 
Sophie Darlington: And well, for me, the legacy is the thing that absolutely means the most we set out to, to fledge, shall we say, new talent that is so badly needed in the world right now. And we've done it with Queens, we've got a load of very, very, very talented young women on board who make wildlife look like a different place.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

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