Before doors closed on the FIFDH Impact Days 2023, Nick Read and Ayse Toprak’s My Name Is Happy (UK/Turkey) was awarded The Storyboard Impact Award, value at 10,000 CHF (approx. €10,280). The StoryBoard Collective is a philanthropic organisation based in Geneva which supports storytelling for social transformation. The StoryBoard Impact Fund works to build capacity in media impact production via strategic partnerships and direct grants.
The DOCS UP Fund Award was won by Scarlet Girls, by Paula Cury (Dominican Republic). The fund supports international feature length documentaries dedicated to human rights, and encourages awareness of the importance of impact campaigns on all contemporary issues. The award is valued at €1500 and is designed to support the impact campaign of one of the projects. Also included is a consulting service for the duration of the film’s editing phase.
The Sublimages Award was presented to Land of Women by Aymar El Amir and Nada Riyadh (Egypt). The award is designed to reach strategic audiences in specific territories where the impact campaign is set, thanks to the provision of free translation of the final film, plus subtitle spotting, into one of 4 languages: English, French, Spanish or Portuguese.
Talking to Business Doc Europe just after the gongs were handed out, Industry Head Laura Longobardi expressed her satisfaction at the two-day professional Impact Days event, which comprised screenings and case studies of recent Impact campaigns and the emotionally wrenching March 14 session during which the Lab participants gave powerful presentations on the necessity for Impact investment in their vital projects.
“Each was a six minute pitch in which they presented their film, presented the trailer and presented the impact goals that they have. And then one minute with a supporting person either in the room, or recorded, who would explain why [delegates] should support this project,” she said. These included the likes of revered feminist Gloria Steinem (who vouched for Violet Du Feng ’s Hidden Letters); Mutlu Kaya, the subject of My Name Is Happy and, in person, Baraka, the daughter of exiled Ugandan activist (and PEN grant recipient) Dr Stella Nyanzi, the subject of Patience Nitumwesiga’s The Woman Who Poked The Leopard.
“Baraka was there to witness and to talk about how hard it is for activist children to actually live this life whereby you don’t know, when you go back home, if your mother is still there or if she’s in prison. That was a very strong moment of this morning.” A total of 34 countries were represented among the Impact Lab participants and speakers.
Longobardi reminded BDE of the establishing ethos of Impact Days, as expressed within its manifesto, how “within the right constellation of partnerships, documentary films have the power to move hearts and minds towards concrete action…to facilitate impact alliances between filmmakers and key players in the vast ecosystem of organisations, policymakers and funders active around ‘International Geneva.’”
She further observed how Impact Days is now well enough established (this was the fifth edition after its launch in 2019) to invite previous participants back to offer Impact case studies of their completed projects. These were on the films Softie (2020 selection); To see you again/Volverte a ver (2021 selection); Je suis Noires (2022 selection), and Peace for Nina (also 2022 selection and winner of Impact Award).
“It’s a ripple effect in which they come here, they do the training, they find partners, they roll their campaign, and then they come back to inspire other filmmakers,” she said of the returning experts. “It’s a very nice closing of the circle. The fact that they come back to inspire other filmmakers is an important result.”
A March 14 afternoon session included a peer-to-peer event during which established institutional supporters explained to potential new financial partners and philanthropic organizations the benefits of Impact engagement with docs. “In Geneva there are a lot of issue-driven organizations,” explained Longobardi.
The session included a case study of a film that was presented at Impact Days 2022, Shadow Game by Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel, which is about the tortuous journey undertaken by unaccompanied minors trying to find sanctuary in Europe. The film had also won the Grand Geneva Award and Youth Jury Award at the FIFDH 2021 and this year was part of the FIFDH school programme.
Leading the way in terms of Impact advocacy during the session were organizations such as IRIS, the Ford Foundation and the Storyboard Collective. “They explained why it’s interesting for philanthropic organizations to engage with storytelling. Because that was always the idea of Impact Days, that this must become a sustainable field. We need more resources to come in both to reinforce and bring more financing into the field of Impact. And Geneva is a good spot for that,” Longobardi signed off.
