Liani Maasdorp

UCT Centre for film and Media Studies, Climate Story Lab ZA

Thinking strategically about distribution and designing a creative alternative distribution plan has become critical to independent producers’ success, regardless of whether they aim to influence change around an issue they are passionate about, or make or a profit.

Independent filmmakers from the Majority World cannot rely only on conventional mainstream distribution channels to get their films to their intended target audiences. A-list festivals, global streamers, international broadcasters, and a cinema release sound great, but are no longer the only - and seldom the primary - means of getting an African independent film to viewers. The proliferation of streaming platforms creates opportunities, but also challenges… especially for independent filmmakers. If you’re lucky enough to get your film picked up by a big international streamer it’s difficult to get seen by viewers in the mass of content; it’s hard for a first-time filmmaker to secure a decent licensing fee; and - something that is particularly important for those who hope to use their film to address a social issue - negotiating to retain certain rights so that you can distribute your film via other channels can be near impossible.

Documentary filmmakers have led the way in using creative alternative distribution strategies for social impact for years, and since 2019 Climate Story Labs around the world have paved the way in bringing creatives using other story forms into the impact fold. Fiction films, telenovelas, graphic novels, even stand-up comedy are now being used to affect positive change around this pressing issue.

Impact producing entails designing and implementing a strategy that gets a film to the right audience in the right way to affect positive changed around clearly stated goals. An impact campaign uses a film as starting point. The film should make the audience aware of and care about the issue. But that’s not enough. Driving targeted, measurable, sustained, change is hard to achieve. Impact producers work with partners and use conversations, supporting interventions, activities and activations to channel the emotion generated by the film into actual action.

There are excellent examples of impact campaigns that use film to create awareness of, change behaviour related to, or influence policy on pressing human rights, social justice and climate issues around Africa. Miners Shot Down (RSA, 2014) reveals how government, police and the Lonmin mining company colluded to massacre striking mine workers in 2012. Thank You for the Rain (Kenya, 2017) vividly shows the impacts of the climate crisis on agriculture and has been sharing valuable information about climate adaptation strategies generated by communities who are most affected. Survivors (Sierra Leone, 2018) celebrates local first responders that put their lives on the line during the Ebola pandemic to treat and transport patients, countering Western ‘white saviour’ narratives about doctors and nurses from Europe and the US swooping in to save the day. The STEPS Generation Africa slate of 25 films from around Africa – including The Last Shelter (Mali, 2021), No U Turn (Nigeria, 2022) and Transactions (Zimbabwe, 2022) - are turning mainstream media representations of migration in and from Africa on their heads.

All these films won awards, premiered at A-list festivals like Sundance and Berlinale and/or were picked up by international broadcasters and streamers. So don’t think for a second that different types of distribution - festival, commercial and social impact - should be in conflict with each other. They can, in fact, be mutually beneficial. There certainly are many films that only have commercial distribution strategies, but for an impact film there is potential to have it all – festival and awards success, sales, and social impact. The Syrian film For Sama (2019) is an excellent example of this. It won awards at Cannes, Hot Docs, the BAFTAS and was nominated for an Oscar; while forming the centre of an impact campaign, Action For Sama, which functioned “alongside the film release in order to demand urgent action from governments to end the targeting of healthcare facilities in Syria" (forsamafilm.com, actionforsama.com). The filmmakers, publicist, producer of marketing and distribution, and impact team worked together to generate media attention and run an awards campaign for the film. They then leveraged their festival and awards success to focus international media attention on the issue, for example by displaying the slogan “Stop bombing hospitals” on the Cannes red carpet.

Many of the skills required for marketing and distributing mainstream entertainment films can be applied to social change campaigns; and conversely impact strategies can inspire alternative distribution strategies for smaller, independent films, including student films. For this reason the University of Cape Town Centre for Film and Media Studies (UCT CFMS), the Global Impact Producers’ Alliance (GIPA), Doc Society, Climate Story Lab South Africa (CSLZA) and the UCT Sunshine Cinema Impact Facilitator Short Course are collaborating to host an interactive impact session at FAME Week Africa. A discussion of impact case studies from Africa will be followed by a ‘hackathon’, during which attendees will have the opportunity to design and share impact strategies for a short film featured in the FAME short film festival.