Queens is a female-led series in front of and behind the camera from National Geographic.
We traveled to Tanzania to spend time with the filmmakers in the savannah.
Lets start at the end.
Were at the base of the Ngorongoro Crater, a two-million-year-old collapsed volcano in Tanzania.
A heavy downpour is thumping the roof of our safari vehicle.
Yes, its raining in Africa.
The Ngorongoro Crater filmed from a helicopter. (National Geographic for Disney)
He gestures toward an unseasonably lush clearing where a committee of elephants is assembled to wish us adieu.
We were in safe hands.
At an elevation of 5,900 feet above sea level, rain clouds are hovering just above our heads.
Team Lioness unit leader Sharon Nankinyi during an interview with Faith Musembi. (National Geographic for Disney/Job Githaka)
I hit record on a short video of the approaching elephant, no further than 10 feet away.
Its my favorite video of the trip.
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Finally, Musembi breaks the silence.
Queens Cinematographer and Mentee Erin Ranney films lions in Tanzania. (National Geographic for Disney/Millie Marsden)
She knows shes magnificent, she whispers as the matriarch swings her trunk around and drifts past the vehicle.
Almost every aspect ofQueensbreaks the natural history mold.
Then her life changed course.
She became a mother.
She moved to Africa.
She followed elephants in Botswana for two years.
I was thinking about matriarchy a lot, she says of her time in Botswana.
Both how it applies to myself and how it applies to the elephants.
When you go to [National Geographic], its much more diverse and people care about diversity.
They were the right people to pitch this to.
They were ready for it.
And they have actually realized it.
And for good reason.
Local filmmakers like her often dont get opportunities when Western productions come to Africa.
This wasnt a thing to check off boxes.
It was genuine to change how things are done.
Sarah Bridge, who served as music supervisor ofThe CrownandBridgerton, held the same title forQueens.
you better be appealing to broader and younger audiences.
During game drives on our trip, Berlowitz and Musembi would take turns hopping in our vehicle.
We incorporate music into those spaces.
Its something we dont often get to hear African music, funky techno house, old school Congolese rumba.
That never gets put on natural history.
We had the freedom and the team around us to find the songs to shape this vision.
WhetherQueensroars loudly enough to shift the paradigm in the nature doc space is up to discerning audiences.
They are the guardians.
Berlowitz pauses, leans in closer, and turns her head toward Musembi.
It needs to come from you, back out into the world, she says.
Queens premieres on Monday, March 4 on National Geographic.
It streams the next day on Disney+.
