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