Our Voices, Our Videos: Bringing Light to our African Nova Scotian Home Videos
The Our Videos, Our Voices (OVOV) project is a cultural preservation and storytelling practice led by the Delmore "Buddy" Daye Learning Institute and Kaleidoscope Network with the objective to share the stories contained within our African Nova Scotian communities and families. The initiative aims to bring African Nova Scotian stories to life through visual storytelling and digitization of home movies. Home movies are important visual time capsules. They’re deeply personal portals into moments of significance to the videographer. The OVOV project is about preserving our shared memories—retrieving stories from within home movies, digitizing them for future generations, and engaging the creators of those home movies to put into focus the stories behind the lens. Film projects this one help weave our past to our present and our future as African Nova Scotians through self-determination and storytelling woven together in thoughtful collaboration by community-based organizations. The film and film trailers can be accessed by request by emailing programs@dbdli.ca.
This successful project led the creation of the first film in the OVOV series, A Story of the North Preston Bulls and Neville “Puddie” Provo, a story of passion, legacy, and the unifying power of community. The film shares digitized content from longtime filmmaker Puddie alongside powerful interview content and first-voice testimony from current basketball coaches who Puddie helped nurture as young basketball players. We held a powerful film premiere in April 2025 with over 60 community members in attendance. We set-up popcorn machines and shared custom North Preston Bulls candy bars, projected the film, and held a panel discussion with the subject of the film, Neville “Puddie” Provo. The audience included a few generations of Bulls basketball players and coaches, the post-film panel evolved into a round of praise for current Bulls coaches, the impact of youth recreation in North Preston, team sports as positive space for mentorship, the influence of Black men’s leadership, and the legacy of peace and love through community.
We’re thrilled to report that A Story of the North Preston Bulls and Neville “Puddie” Provo received a 2025 Emerging Lens Film Festival Award in April 2025 where the film was named Best Short Documentary. The film will air on Eastlink TV’s Black Films That Teach program in October 2025 along with an interview with one of the lead filmmakers. Additional screenings, panel discussions, in-school and community engagement with the film is anticipated for 2025-2026. Submissions of this film into local, national and international film festivals are ongoing.
