Impact Days '23

Geneva’s FIFDH Impact Days showcased a successful case study revolving around STEPS, a groundbreaking, 360-degree documentary project that aims to promote social change throughout Africa. “War, conflicts, deep inequality, forced displacement, the climate crisis… Never before have we such a responsibility as media creators and human rights activists,” said STEPS’ Don Edkins.

The StoryBoard Impact Award (10,000 CHF) was won by My Name Is Happy by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak. The DOCS UP Fund (€1500 plus consultation) went to Scarlet Girls by Paula Cury while The Sublimages Award (translation and subtitles) was handed to Land of Women by Aymar El Amir and Nada Riyadh. After the awards, Impact Head Laura Longobardi reflected on the entire event.

At FIFDH co-directors Nick Read and Ayse Toprak outlined the Impact strategy for their documentary about Turkish teenage singing sensation Mutlu Kaya as she makes a remarkable journey from gunshot victim to fearless survivor. “Our impact goal is to offer victims a roadmap for survival. With her beaming smile and creative energy, Mutlu has the potential to be a role model both inside Turkey and beyond,” said Read.

Impact producers Miriam Ayoo and Chloé Genga came to Impact Days in Geneva to describe the campaign they devised for Sam Soko’s 2020 Sundance winner Softie, a film about the brilliant photographer and political activist Boniface "Softie" Mwangi as he runs for office in a regional Kenyan election, a decision that puts pressure both on his young family and on his convictions.

Dutch Anne Marie Boorsboom of ShareDoc told Business Doc Europe about her innovation that allows audiences to respond immediately – and financially - to the docs they have just watched. “With a QR code at the end of the credits, they can scan it and they can act on their feeling of empathy,” she explained of the potential audience engagement.

The 5th Impact Days of the FIFDH human rights fest opened with an address by Industry Head Laura Longobardi who welcomed guests to “the annual gathering of all those who believe that storytelling can play an essential role in advancing positive values such as human and civil rights, social and environment justice and peacekeeping, right here at the very heart of Geneva, the city of multilateralism, of peace, and, of course, of human rights.”

Between March 12-14, Impact Days, the industry programme of FIFDH (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights) will look to facilitate strategic collaborations between filmmakers and NGOs/governmental organisations, all of whom believe in the power of doc to effect radical change, whether in terms of policy or across society in general. Impact Days chief Laura Longobardi explains her programme’s mission to BDE.

The Impact Days Industry programme of FIFDH (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights) will this year run 12-14 March. “Through targeted partnerships, its ambition is to use the power of documentary film as a tool for concrete social and policy change,” write organisers. The 21st FIFDH takes place 10-19 March in Geneva.