OUR WORK
Recent Years Work Showcase
Some of my favourite projects I have worked on in the past few years. My passion is to tell compelling stories of everyday humans.
Invisible Waste Warriors
This 10-minute documentary film offers a glimpse into the life and thoughts of two street waste pickers living and working on the streets of Pretoria, South Africa.
Ronnie Phoshoko and Teboho Modiba are two of more than 60 000 individuals in the country working as informal waste recyclers, contributing to the bulk of South Africa’s recycling efforts, and putting the country on par with European household waste recycling percentages.
As stated by Dr. Melanie Samson, a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at Wits: “The reclaimers collect around 80 to 90 percent of all post-consumer packaging and paper left behind. If they stopped tomorrow, there would be no recycling industry in South Africa.”
Despite the pivotal role of waste pickers, South African society generally looks down on them as vagrants or scavengers and they are not seen when passed by on the street. To a degree they become “invisible”.
Sibusiso Vilane
A Life of Adventure
After becoming the first black African male to summit Mt. Everest, Sibusiso Vilane went on to conquer the 6 other highest peaks on every continent, and also trekked to the north and south poles. This profile video takes a look at his life and his passion for living a life of adventure.
Melvin Peters - A Life of Jazz
A short profile video showcasing the career of Melvin Peters as an acclaimed Jazz Pianist and organist in the city of Durban, South Africa.
Memories Short Film
Is a photograph just a representation of existence in a moment that can never be relived again? Or is it a moment in time that stays connected to us through our emotions? What if it was a time portal to a moment long passed, and yet still existing, a moment in which we become the bystanders to our own lives.
Short Film completed October 2015.
Screened at NFFTY 2016.
The Rim of Africa: Part 1
This video follows three of this year’s through-hikers (Nedine, Meg & Jason) as they reach the halfway mark of their through-hiking journey.
What are the best moments and what are the toughest challenges in the rough terrain of the Langeberg mountains. The Rim of Africa is South Africa’s longest guided hike through the Cape Fold mountains of the Western Cape province. This hike happens once annually as the weather conditions only allow a certain window to make the hike viable.
It is also a massive undertaking by The Rim of Africa Trust, the organization responsible for organizing this hike, to attain permits from land owners and nature reserves as well as other logistics surrounding the hike.
City to City Africa
Telling Gospel stories from Africa
In June 2019 we worked with the media team of Redeemer City to City global to capture and produce a video of the first ever African Intensive. More than 30 church planters from all over the continent attended.
Westhouse Film Co. conducted interviews with most of the attendants and crafted an overview video of what the training was all about.
The intensive is a gathering of church planters and ministers from all over the world who come together to receive training in biblical gospel contextualisation and application in their home country and culture.
Fish River Canyon Hike 2022
A Fresh take on Adventure
In May 2022 Forever Fresh Foods held a competition offering applicants an all-expenses paid opportunity to hike the Fish River Canyon Trail by answering one question… What does Adventure mean to you? From over 100 applications, a group of 4 strangers with varying hiking experiences embarked on a journey of a lifetime. This is their story.
Cancervive
Telling the stories of Overcomers
Donny Westhouse became involved with this initiative as a videographer to film the annual motorcycle tour in 2015. In 2017 and every year since he has been involved in creating a variety of video content accompanying the ride event. It is an honour to be involved with the Non-profit organisation – Cancervive. This organisation focuses on creating awareness of Cancer symptoms and educating communities surrounding the disease to improve early detection. It also combats long-standing stigmas in communities surrounding cancer and its treatment.
Warrior500
We all have a warrior within
Simone Bishop, owner of Alpha Travel Agency, and Grant Christi embarked on a 500 kilometre journey on-foot through the Kruger National Park and surrounds during the 2020 Covid pandemic. This was aimed at raising funds for game lodges and their local communities whom they support.
Donny was asked to document and produce a documentary of this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
NWU - North West University
Becoming More
Directing and filming of a new brand video for the North West University in collaboration with Sinki Mlambo from 90 degrees PR. We utilised a stabilised camera system to get smooth shots, in order to do some post- production magic in the edit with speed ramps and creative sound design. One of the scenes was a motion-controlled time-lapse setup to showcase a group of students solving a problem over the span of an hour.