SASTEP Innovator Documentaries, Conference and Programme Film

Unbreakable Media partnered with the Water Research Commission across several productions for the South African Sanitation Technology Enterprise Programme (SASTEP).

The work began in 2019 with five innovator mini-documentaries, followed by conference filming, live screen coverage, photography and motion graphics. In 2021, we produced a separate nine-minute film explaining the wider SASTEP programme, its partnerships and sanitation initiatives.

Together, these productions created a substantial visual library that could support programme communication, innovator visibility, conference reporting and future SASTEP campaigns.

About SASTEP

SASTEP supports the adoption of innovative, water-smart and non-sewered sanitation technologies in South Africa.

The programme brings together research organisations, government, municipalities, technology developers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to support the testing, localisation and commercialisation of alternative sanitation solutions.

Communicating this work required content that could make technical systems understandable while still showing their practical value within schools, communities and municipalities.

Profiling South African Sanitation Innovators

Ahead of the SASTEP Conference in November 2019, our team travelled to different locations to produce five mini-documentaries profiling South African sanitation innovators:

• Fong Renewables
• Loo Afrique
• Prana Water & Sanitation
• LiquidGold Africa
• Partners in Development

Each three- to four-minute documentary combined interviews with footage of the technology, manufacturing process or installation in use.

The films covered a wide range of sanitation solutions, including biogas production, water-saving school sanitation, modular wastewater treatment, waterless urinals, nutrient recovery and safer pit-emptying systems.

This allowed each innovator to explain its work individually while contributing to the wider SASTEP story.

Featured Innovators

Fong Renewables

The Fong Renewables documentary follows a small-scale biogas project in the Eastern Cape.

Organic waste is processed to produce biogas for cooking and organic fertiliser for a community food garden. The film demonstrates how decentralised technology can connect waste management, energy generation and food production within one practical system.

Loo Afrique — Water-saving sanitation for schools

Filmed at Bula-Dikgoro Primary School in Mamelodi, the Loo Afrique documentary demonstrates the V-Cistern and Pee Basin. These colourful, child-friendly units incorporate handwashing into the sanitation system and reuse handwashing water for flushing, helping reduce fresh-water use while encouraging better hygiene among learners.

SASTEP Conference Production

On 18 November 2019, Unbreakable Media provided video and photographic coverage for the SASTEP Conference.

Two static cameras supplied live video feeds to the venue screens, while a roaming videographer captured registrations, speakers, panel discussions, innovator presentations, exhibitor activity, media interviews, the MOU signing and the cocktail event.

Conference coverage included contributions from Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Dr Doulaye Koné of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and then-WRC CEO Dhesigen Naidoo.

The footage was edited into a conference highlight film, supported by a photographic library of 1,370 images.

Motion graphics and conference screen content

We also created a coordinated motion-graphics package for the event, including:

• The SASTEP conference opener
• An animated SASTEP logo treatment
• Eleven speaker announcement graphics
• Speaker lower thirds
• Conference outro content

The event opener was refined during a late-stage creative review immediately before the conference. As the brief continued to develop, our team interpreted the feedback, adjusted the animation and prepared the final content for the conference screens the following day.

The 2021 SASTEP Programme Film

In 2021, the Water Research Commission returned to Unbreakable Media for a separate nine-minute SASTEP overview film.

The documentary combined newly filmed interviews and location footage with existing project material and clean motion graphics explaining programme statistics, partnerships and initiatives.

The film included:

• The sanitation project at Tsholetsega Primary School
• The Johannesburg Water demonstration partnership
• Local sanitation manufacturing
• Sanitation entrepreneurship
• SASTEP's supporting organisations and programme partners

This overview brought the different parts of the programme together in one film and provided broader context for the individual technologies and projects.

Creating Value Beyond a Single Production

The SASTEP work developed into more than a collection of once-off videos.

Footage originally filmed for the innovator documentaries was later repurposed in subsequent SASTEP World Toilet Day content. This extended the useful life of the material and helped create continuity across different campaigns and production years.

It also demonstrates the value of building an organised visual content library: interviews, technology demonstrations and location footage can continue supporting communication long after the original production has been delivered.

A Coordinated Documentary and Conference Production

This project required technical storytelling, travel and location filming, conference logistics, live screen feeds, photography, motion graphics and post-production to work as one coordinated system.

The resulting content documented both the technologies being developed and the wider programme supporting their adoption—while creating footage that remained useful for future SASTEP communication.

Unbreakable Media helps organisations plan documentary films, conference coverage, photography, motion graphics and long-term content assets as part of one connected production.

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