Alex Kelly - Impact Producer & Filmmaker Alice Springs Australia

ADG Melbourne June 2014

website: echotango.org twitter: @aggyk

Australian Director’s Guild: adg.org.au

The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and

won than by the stories it loves and believes in -

Harold Goddard

Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what

makes the present inhabitable. - Rebecca Solnit

The arc of the moral universe is long,

but it bends towards justice.

- Martin Luther King Jnr

The most powerful weapon of the oppressor

is the mind of the oppressed. —Steven Biko

Secrets & Lies An anatomy of an

anti-environmental PR campaign Bob Burton & Nicky Hager

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,

then let us work together. - Lilla Watson & Aboriginal Activists, QLD 1970s

BRITDOC’s types of change (draft)

It’s much harder to hurt someone if you know their

story. John Bakes & Scott Rankin

Big hART

Nations are narrations. - Edward Said

There is a significant manifestation of media power in the policy making

process… the way indigenous issues are portrayed in the mainstream media

does impact on the way indigenous affairs policies are developed, communicated

and implemented. - Australian News Media

& Indigenous Policy, 1998-2008

changing media scape• Crowd funding; Pozible, Kickstater, Indiegogo

• New funding partnerships; Bertha, Brit Doc, Fledgling Fund, Just Films, Good Pitch

• New digital distribution models; Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, Distrify, Beama, Screenburner

• New theatrical crowd distribution models; Gathr, Tugg,

!

sector snapshot• NGOs making content: 350.org Do the Maths, Invisible

Children: Kony 2012, Lock the Gate: Fractured Country

• Human Rights observers: Witness, Engage Media West Papua Video Project,

• Activist films: Occupy live stream, indymedia, Freedom Flotilla

• Traditional documentary filmmakers

• Impact Space; outreach, engagement, impact - Impact

Fledgling Fund - Dimensions of Impact

The Invisible War (2012)

• Trigger warning, this film discusses sexual assault in the military.

The Invisible War aims:!

• to end the epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S military

• to help survivors of military sexual assault heal

• to use the theatrical release of The Invisible War as a catalyst in creating lasting political and cultural change

Case Study: Invisible War

• Invisible No More #notinvisible campaign

• Reporting mechanisms changed within days of it being screening on Capitol Hill

• 350 + screenings on military bases

• 600 + screenings at universities, in communities

• At least 266,000 military personnel seen film

• Used in Department of Defence training

Budrus by Just Vision

It takes a village to unite the most divided people on earth.

Just Vision aims:• to contribute to peace by generating

awareness and support for Palestinians and Israelis who pursue freedom, dignity, security and peace using non violent means

• to offer inspiring models that alter the way that audiences think about and respond to the occupation and conflict

Budrus aims:

• Palestine; shift the conversation to demonstrate the efficacy of non violence and the power of women in social change.

• USA; put town of Budrus and it’s successful non violence campaign on the map in contrast to the dominant discourse of vioelnce, extremism and political deadlock.

• Israel; generate positive media re Budrus and awareness raising of Palestinian non violence campaigns

Budrus

• Seen by over 2.7M people

• Cinema release is over 185 cities

• Winner of numerous awards internationally

• Film cost $340k, campaign $840k

Big hART’s Ngapartji Ngapartji

Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji

Ngapartji Ngapartji aims;

• to highlight the status of indigenous languages and generate a national and international groundswell in desire to maintain and preserve these languages.

• to respond to issues of health, education, substance abuse and violence presenting for young Pitjantjatjara people in Alice Springs and region using arts intervention strategies.

Ngapartji Ngapartji

• Memory baskets x 2000

• Ninti site, 10 seasons touring theatre show

• Community screenings

• ABC TV Broadcast, NITV Broadcast

• Ronin Films education distribution

• Linked to indigenous languages policy

Gasland

Gasland aims:!

• to put “fracking” on the map

• to enable viewers to connect with grassroots organisations via social media

• to lobby elected officials at the highest level in order to curtail fracking

Gasland

• Cost $32k to make film, $240k to run campaign

• Seen by over 2M people

• Put fracking on the map

Mary Meets Mohammad

Other great examples: Age of Stupid Granito The House I live In Gideon’s Army God Loves Uganda The Interrupters End of the Line Bully Escape Fire Inequality for All How to Survive a Plague Pray the Devil Back to Hell Molly and Mobarak The Hungry Tide The Ride The Cove !

Film Sprout

• “Growing grass roots distribution and community action for documentaries”

• www.filmsprout.org

Working Films!

• “Linking non fiction film with cutting edge activism”

• http://www.workingfilms.org

Centre for Story Based Stategy

• Center for Story-based Strategy movement-building organization dedicated to harnessing the power of narrative for social change. 

• http://www.storybasedstrategy.org/

Good Pitch• Good Pitch connects the world's best social justice films with new

allies and partners.

• https://goodpitch.org

• http://britdoc.org

• GOOD PITCH² Australia October 8th Sydney

crucial ingredients• a good story

• well told

• clear goals

• knowing your audience

• having a clear strategy

• networks - connection to movements and influential people

• good timing / luck / zeitgeist

Audience: !

Who are they? Where are they?

What are they watching your film on? (Phone, laptop, online, DVD, cinema?)

What do they care about? What social media do they use? What do you want them to DO?

Not everything that counts can be counted &

not everything that can be counted counts.

- Albert Einstein

but I’m a filmmaker / artist!

• You don’t have to do everything - find partners and networks

• Let’s build a movement of ‘impact producers’

• You can still be independent and poetic AND be political

• If you take the time to make work of art/film might as well get max impact for your efforts

closing thoughts

• Nations are narrations

• Stories we include/exclude define us

• Cultural producers have disproportionate capacity to influence change

Big change looks impossible when you start, and looks

inevitable after you’ve finished.

-Bob Hunter

• website: echotango.org/blog

• twitter: @aggyk

• Australian Director’s Guild: adg.org.au