While the term ‘female empowerment has become something that many tend to throw around flippantly nowadays, there is nothing trivial or superfluous about what empowered women can achieve. Now, put together 13 women who have all been chosen for their range of different strengths and the result is nothing short of dynamite.

Of course, getting so many people on board and setting the idea in motion was not an easy task. In fact, the lovely lady who conceived the idea more than three years ago, Gabrielle Zammit Grungo, went to a lot of trouble to find women that she felt embodied the message that she wanted Orenda to convey.

So, what’s behind the name? “Orenda is all about a mythical force. It is a force which both encourages as well as empowers one to change themselves and their surroundings. This has a ripple effect. Ultimately, when a woman is empowered, all society benefits: one woman’s strength can change a nation.”

In order to further drive this latter point home, Gabrielle chose to integrate Maya Angelou’s words into the piece: “There truly is no better example of what one tenacious woman can achieve than Angelou’s work. Her literature and poetry did not only influence an entire generation of women, but it gave a voice to the oppressed. I came across her work two years ago while I was going through a particularly difficult time and it really made me see the beauty in simplicity. Angelou does not only empower women or black women, but her words give hope to everyone regardless of sex, race or experience.”

The team behind the project Orenda.

By recording the women in this way, we were able to bring out their physical energy

Zammit Grungo did not want a static piece and, by working closely with renowned videographer and photographer Steven Levi Vella, she was able to achieve this.

“I wanted these women to be able to tell their own stories in their own very unique ways and that would not have been possible had we just taken photos. Empowerment is all about taking control of our rights and strengths and using them to achieve. By recording the women in this way we were able to bring out their physical energy: an energy which in turn is able to reach out to other women and empower them. Orenda was not made to be a static experience, but an interactive one.”

In order to achieve this palpable interactivity, the video is split into sections: “The video has an artistic concept and things are artistically represented, however, the individual messages remain strong and resounding. The film, almost a documentary in style, is about the sharing of experiences but it does have a defined timeline. The documentary goes through birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and death. Instead of following the natural progression of life, we went backwards. Thus, we started with death and ended with birth. We felt that this would better represent the idea of new beginnings and new eras.”

It was not just important for Zammit Grungo and Vella to have the film spilt into different sections, but it was also imperative that they be able to convey a message of unity in diversity.

The women featured in the collection of photos each tell their story in a unique way.

“We wanted to show that a woman is beautiful at any age and in order to do that we tried to cover a spectrum. We wanted to showcase women from different backgrounds and social situations and convert their energy into something tangible. We spent many hours discussing our choices and how we wanted it all to come together but when we actually had the footage in hand, we spent many hours splitting sentences and changing things around in order for us to best represent our ethos and vision.”

Vella clearly feels very strongly about what he felt when he saw the components of the video for the very first time: “The energy and vibe that I got from these women was indescribable; I really felt that we were able to create a new energy. When you are able to put as much emotion and passion into something as these women were able to, it shows in what you are able to produce. Whether someone sees this video today or in 15 years’ time, the message and the energy will be unmistakable.

“We set out to empower through others’ empowerment and we really feel that we have managed to reach our end goal. When we started getting feedback, it was just phenomenal. Much like its name, it had managed to reach out, grab people and shake them awake. We couldn’t be happier or prouder.”