hello there i'm writing as director of a new documentary with gael garcia bernal called resist. (there is a massive social outreach plan that we are implementing as well!) as it is not something that is very often discussed in the film world, i'm just wondering how you guys define systemic change as it is something we are very interested in inspiring with our project. m

Hello Marc,
Sandy's definition of "systemic change" is dead-on. I would also add that systemic change involves lasting and positive change at every level throughout a process, an organization or an existing social structure. So take as one example the social problem of access to water in a developing regions. Systemic change would be needed not only in creating a sustainable water delivery system to urban and rural communities in that region, it also involves other issues along the chain, such as water privatization and government policies re: corporate interests, disinfection and water treatment, hygiene and public health policies, education about consumption, empowerment for the poor in claiming their rights to common utilities, etc. It would also involve systemic change in all related processes to make them more sustainable. Systemic change is best looked at as agitating local and global reform at every given point along a circle of conditions relating to an issue. To dial back to the topic at hand, FLOW For Love of Water is a brilliant film (releasing on August 22nd in New York) about human rights issues arising from the privatization of water-- and does a very good job dealing with what's needed to effect systemic change on this issue. See www.flowthefilm.com for the outreach campaign dealing with change around water issues.

I've heard about Resist and your campaign website. It's beautifully done and I'd love to know more about it. I'm naturally curious, because I've done a lot of strategy work in outreach for initiatives leading to change in the areas of rights, development and sustainability. I've been lucky enough to have worked on the outreach campaigns for films like Born into Brothels (I was the ED of the related nonprofit) and The Devil Came on Horseback-- which the Washington Post just named one of the 10 most influential documentaries! I believe the outreach campaign for "The Devil" in particular helped create change by raising awareness and focusing on divestment as a means to create change on the ground. Please take a look at a discussion by one of my colleagues about the outreach campaign for The Devil Came on Horseback at www.theartofsocialchange.com (disclosure: I launched The Art of Social Change as a networking site which aims to create a knowledge base for nonprofits and activists in the use of film, art and media to effect social change. It is housed at arttribesnetwork.com).

Good luck, Marc!
Lina Srivastava-- Lina Srivastava Consulting

Hi Lina, Thanks for sharing the arttribesnetwork.com. Does anyone else know of other places where either social entrepreneurs can find filmmakers, or venues for filmmakers to connect with social ventures seeking documentaries or short films to document their work?

For more background on effective story telling and opportunities, see also:

film opportunities http://www.socialedge.org/features/opportunities/topics/film

Story Telling in the Modern World (from the Skoll World Forum)
http://www.socialedge.org/features/skoll-world-forum/skoll-world-forum-2008-sessions/swf2008-23

Story Telling and Social Change
http://www.socialedge.org/features/skoll-world-forum/features/skoll-world-forum/discussions/marketing-communication/storytelling-and-social-change/

other story telling discussions on Social Edge
http://www.socialedge.org/search?SearchableText=story+telling

Thanks for setting up your ning.com page. I have been trying to draw people from forums like Social Edge to action planning/collaboration sites like ning for quite a while. Without regular advertising (emotional appeal) it's difficult for most of us to build participation in an on-line forum, or on-going support for a social change.

I think that the discussions you're hosting illustrate the power of film to build interest. If they can be continued over many years, and point to web forums with information about why, where, and how someone can get involved with the cause, I think they can even lead to systemic social change.

The reason I feel the interent is such a powerful tool is that I feel we need to see more efforts to "map" systemic change. There are free tools that enable this to happen. For instance, if we want a five year old in Chicago to be starting a job by age 25, he needs to be helped through various stages of growth. If he lives in a high poverty neighborhood, this help may need to be supported by extra adults. Here's a map of that idea: http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1190497420500_1851012989_12726&partName=htmltext

If those creating documentaries are also partnering with people mapping the actions that need to be taken, this can lead to more people doing the right thing at the right time, in the right place(s), rather than more random acts of kindness that are not sustained or well distributed.

I hope we can continue this type of discussion in forums like Ning.com

Hi Lina

My Name is Yosef Haimanot and I was born In Ethiopia and grow up in United Kingdom. After completing my master degree from university of Newport Wales, I went back to Ethiopia after 20 something years to produce a feature length documenter film, based on my life and my life experience in Ethiopia title ‘Mothersland’ and what I have found is No Change at all. Therefore, for me Systemic Change it has two elements,

1. The west and America,
2. Africa

To change the mind set of Western and American people it is simple and started forward, because the education system is well organized and delivered, the system is set to question, to discuss and to solve a problem what ever that it may be.

But the African education system is the opposite of that, it is not well organized and delivered, they are not encourage to question, in fact they are discourage questing anything special the system, there is no discussions about particular issues or given any kind of task where they could solve a problem and be proud about themselves.

Therefore, in Africa the Systemic Change is very difficult. But to achieve this what Ethiopian Art Centre UK are doing is, to build Ethiopian Art Academe/College, where we can teach young people about filmmaking, photograph, and theatre and long side of this we will set up various businesses which it will support the subject that we are providing and this will show the young generation, how to question, discuss, solve the problem and make something, short film, photograph or street theatre about your family, the land, the system anything you want, and this it will lead to achieving Systemic Change in Africa.

Hello Daniel and Yosef,
Thanks so much for reaching out to me.

Daniel, thanks very much for joining The Art of Social Change at ArtTribesNetwork.com. As we discussed there, I've been playing with visual representations of systemic change in rights/media for a while, trying to figure out how best to map connected and overlapping factors/requirements/solutions. The fact that I'm not a designer has complicated the process of coming up with these concept maps-- as well the regional considerations that you, Yousef, interestingly point out. (I'm not sure those of us born or living in the West would agree that systemic change here is as straightforward as we'd hope it could be-- we live with and haven't yet figured out how to shift existing frameworks that don't always allow for change under our national skin. But I won't dispute that we in the US can access tools to implement change more easily than other regions of the world.)

To Yousef's post, systemic change is very dependent on the regional context in which change efforts are being made. I agree with Arthur's post below, about the need for aspiration to big ideas and global solutions, but solutions need to be implemented with regard to regional/local needs. And so local solutions-building and knowledge-sharing is deeply important-- which is where storytelling can play a fantastic role. To dial back to Marc's post, he and the creators of Resist have created a powerful and useful process in engaging their current and potential audience through their network to tell their own stories. (I just wrote about shared content creation and multiplatform delivery at The Art of Social Change, if you want to read more: http://www.arttribesnetwork.com/group/theartofsocialchange/forum/topic/show?id=1996069%3ATopic%3A7220).

Lina

Good Afternoon. I'm Michelle with the Freeplay Foundation, which works in Africa. This is a fabulous opportunity. Are there filmmakers on this discussion that are without current projects? We would be interested in collaboration. Thanks.

I am interesting in talking with you further. I am in the early stages of developing a project with a filmmaker in Tanzania, and am interested in other possibilities as well.
Lyn Goldfarb
www.documentary-films.tv

I have posted this more than once but don't see it. So I'll repeat what I wrote: I am producing and film on the creative, resourceful, entrepreneurial women cloth dyers of Mali. I'd be interested to know what kind of collaboration you are looking for. Thanks. Maureen G.

Hello Cara & Sandy. I am a Sundance alum having had the film “Death: A Love Story” there in documentary competition in 1999. My current documentary in development is called New Hope Diners and is about the New Hope Diner Project in Providence, RI (see New York Times article 7/14/08 “ Youthful Offenders Restoring Luster to Diners of Old”).

I have been shooting various stages of this project and it’s participants for about a year now. The project was spearheaded by John Scott, Billy Trebelli and Daniel Zilka. The first two men are visionary men who work at the Rhode Island Training School (RITS: our local juvenile detention facility). Daniel Zilka is the director of the American Diner Museum. These men have come together to give new life to old diners and in turn give m=new life to incarcerated youth coming from backgrounds of poverty, violence and crime. The youth are trained in carpentry, restoration, cooking and business management.

The plan is for the youth from the RITS to work in the diners once restored and mounted back in locations all over RI. They will wait tables and possibly manage, maybe even own one someday.

My question is: would this be considered a social entrepreneurship project? In other words, the project is clearly spearheaded and run by ambitious, mission driven individuals tackling a major social issue – re-engaging disenfranchised youth in meaningful lives – but so far, the plan isn’t to actually have the youth running the businesses.

Sorry for such a long e-mail but thought I would pose this question before putting the time into the proposal.

Thanks!

Michelle LE Brun

HI, I'm Rosemary in St. John's Newfoundland. I've been researching a documentary film for the National Film Board of Canada about feminism and globalism. I spent several weeks in Toronto (the world's most ethnically diverse city) in March and I'm returning there again in September. I talked to dozens of women, both new immigrants, second generation Canadians and refugees. The complexities and challenges facing women all around the world as they struggle for, in many cases, the most basic of human rights are almost overwhelming to consider. A number of women were concerned about white middle class feminists riding in to save women around the world, when they really don't have a proper context. For example, not being well aware that the Taliban, the scourge of Afghani women, was basically put in place by the US government. I'm still looking for my story to illuminate this important subject of women's rights globally - any ideas or suggestions are most welcome! Cheers, Rosemary

Thanks everyone for joining us for this online conversation about the Stories of Change fund and collaboration between social entrepreneurs and filmmakers. We very excited to have you with us!

Hi Marc - Great question! When we use the term systemic change, we typically mean fundamentally and permanently shifting how systems operate so that greater social value can be created and livelihoods are improved. For example, eBay created systemic change by introducing online auctions into peer-to-peer commerce. Now it is impossible to imagine going back to the limited efficiency of flea markets and classifieds. We define social entrepreneurs as individuals with innovations that have the potential to create this type of large scale systemic shift addressing major social issues like human rights, environment, poverty, health, peace & security, etc.

Michelle - Thanks for your post. The New Hope Diner Project sounds really interesting. My question would be whether the individuals running the program believe they have a model that has the potential for replication outside Providence and that they could achieve broad systemic change beyond this one project. For example, Dorothy Stoneman at YouthBuild engages at-risk youth in rehabing homes in their inner-city neighborhoods, building their work skills and confidence. Her program is now operating in cities across the country and her model is broadly recognized and accepted. If New Hope seeks that type of impact and is systematically setting out to achieve that goal, then they are social entrepreneurs.

Sally Osberg and Roger Martin's article "Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition" in the Stanford Social Innovation Review has more background on systemic change and the definition of social entrepreneur. http://www.skollfoundation.org/media/skoll_docs/2007SP_feature_martinosberg.pdf

Sandy
Thanks for your feedback. They have spoken about creating a national model but I’m not sure how far along they are with the actual specifics. I will find out today when we meet.
Thanks so much for this forum – it is a great resource !
Michelle Le Brun

Sandy and Cara: Thanks for the opportunity to participate in the discussion forum.

I recently completed an award-winning documentary film on agriculture, sustainability and the foods we eat. While screening and discussing the film and the issues it raises to audiences across the US and around the world, I encountered a highly regarded paleo anthropologist who is exploring the evolution of diet and nutrition and it's possible relevance to understanding modern health and well-being among humans. His research led him to create a healthy food product that addresses the lack of certain elements in our modern diet that he feels are some of the main causes for the rise in diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and other modern diseases. He now sells this healthy product to the public as a way to get his message on the dietary changes we must make in our lifestyles to avoid these debilitating conditions.

I think his story, where and how he is selling his healthy food product and the changes in the evolution of diets over time would make an engaging, entertaining and life changing film. Do you think this might be an appropriate subject for the Sundance/Skoll "Stories of Change" documentary initiative? If so, what do you think I should emphasize in the proposal: the scientist-entrepreneur and his vision; his groundbreaking research; the healthy food product and the way he is using it to educate and change people's diet in an area of country known for great food and for extreme poverty or ?

Jed Riffe, Ripe for Change

Hi Jed - Based on what you've told us, the paleo anthropologist has an innovation that has the potential to address a fundamental global issue in a systemic way... so he's a social entrepreneur in my book and a film that features him and/or his work would be a good fit for this fund. How you choose to tell the story is really up to you. Is there a specific action or impact you'd like to see as a result of the film, such as wide-spread adoption of his product among a particular demographic?

The 2008 U.S. presidential election has created an unprecedented interest in the voting process and the issues of the candidates over the last 12 months. At Children's Way Foundation, the creator of Woogi World, we are taking this unique opportunity to engage the very young in the voting process. With the help of 55 thousand elementary schoolteachers across the country and Studies Weekly magazine providing the state required curriculum, children will be able to utilize the Woogi World online virtual world to learn about the U.S. voting process. We are combining real world, current events with, school supported education. We believe the result will be a large number of children learning, understanding and participating in subjects relevant to their future lives.

They will learn that voting is both a right and responsibility. They will communicate, collaborate and participate in the process of voting with friends, family, schoolmates both local and global. Equally important, such a program can easily be expanded nationwide reducing the actual cost of the program on a per student basis. If you are a filmmaker looking for a powerful subject to document Please feel free to contact me!

Hello Sandy and Cara and everyone else,

I work for VillageReach, and Skoll generously funded a short documentary film on our health system work in rural Mozambique (www.villagereach.org for the film link). Having had a year to reflect on it, I’m still in awe of the trust that the filmmaker and everyone else puts into the process of capturing the essence of an organization’s work.

And I have a lot of respect for the things that didn’t make it into the film as well. The level of focus required to convey a compelling story in the shortest time possible means that lots of great secondary stories get left out. It’s almost as if there should be a documentary of the documentary process!

For example, the film team was trying to get a shot of our propane lamp in use in a health center, most of which don’t have electricity. They happened to be at a health center that did have electricity at the moment, so the propane lamp was there but not in use. A woman walked into the health center with a newborn baby. She had gone into labor at home and started walking to the health center, but didn’t make it – she gave birth on the side of the road, and then walked the rest of the way into town. She arrived, babe in arms, to visit the medical worker and ensure that everything was fine.

Of course, it would have been great to film their medical exam (and tell that story) by the flickering light of a propane lamp . . . but the electricity was working, so she opted for an exam under the bright glow of fluorescent bulbs instead. Alas, a fascinating situation that didn’t make it into the film for obvious reasons. There are oodles of great stories like this one behind every documentary.

For those of you who walk down the documentary path, enjoy the scenery and have a great time. It’s stressful, and can be a complete rollercoaster with no seatbelts, and worth it in the end. At least we think so. (With kudos to Michael Schwarz and his team at Kikim Media, plus giant thanks to Skoll, for helping us tell our story.)

Hi all.. I wanted to just put forth the link to a video we have up on current TV about the community video units and how Video Volunteers ngo is training people from Indian communities to become their own producers and distributors.
On the topic of social entrepeneurship, any suggestions on where else we can post our videos and share and what we can do with these videos once they are made, screened in the community and used as a campaign tool?
other than just being interesting, alternative media online.. what other platforms can we post our videos/work to? Do give some input and in the meantime check it out:

http://current.com/items/89174339_movies_moving_mountains#

Hi -

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the expectations for distribution/marketing, interactive elements, and outreach/education. I've read through the guidelines (which are quite helpful) but I was hoping if you could go into a little more detail.

thanks,

Megan

Hi Megan,

Thanks for your question about proposal elements including Distribution and Marketing, Outreach and Engagement, and Interactive Elements. Sundance welcomes the creativity of artists and supports the notion that these activities should reflect the nature of the film and the needs of the topic at hand.

DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING STRATEGY Characterize the intended distribution life for your film, including relevant broadcast, festival, theatrical, home video distribution intended. Stories of Change is seeking proposals for feature length films (60+ minutes), but can support filmmakers who will conduction versioning for broadcast or educational purposes.

OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT Explain how you would motivate viewers beyond the screening. Characterize any outreach partners intended or secured such as organizations in the host country, cultural or educational institutions. This category is for activities that go above and beyond the work of your distributor, publicist, and speaker bureau. Outreach and Engagement should help activate viewers with your story, region, ideological exploration, issues or campaign. This engagement work might inspire viewers to share the film with others as they get more deeply involved, to take action in specific ways, or to participate in facilitated conversation. Outreach and Engagement activities can be web-based or live.

INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS If applicable, explain how you would enhance your project through multi-platform and ancillary elements. How might these elements be interactive or generate social engagement? Feel free to list technological innovations you might creatively harness. Recent examples from a Sundance Institute grantee (NOT related to social entrepreneurship) includes activities for STATE OF FEAR.

EXAMPLE: Filmed by a U.S./Peruvian team, STATE OF FEAR tells a gripping story of repression and resistance as Peruvian leaders used the threat of terrorism to gut the democracy, making Peru a virtual dictatorship. In 2001 a new democratic government established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and granted Skylight Pictures access to bring this timely story to an international audience.

The grant will support the film's first screenings in the Quechua language. The screenings will be part of a multi-platform outreach strategy that uses Google mapping to create a truth and justice hub for Peru. The site will receive live news feeds of the Fujimori trials, facilitate human rights social networks, use Twitter to post cellphone text messages from the field, and support ongoing work with the Quechua version of STATE OF FEAR.

Thanks to Michelle Riley (www.freeplayfoundation.org), Rosemary House and Eric Clare for letting us know that they would be interested in finding someone to collaborate with on a Stories of Change proposal. Are there others out there you would also like to tell us about themselves and their interests/work? Perhaps there are more matches that can be discovered here...

Thanks also to Jenny for sharing Village Reach's experience working with Kikim. For some of you a Stories of Change project would be your first filmmaker/social entrepreneur collaboration. Others have been down this road before. I'd love to know more about how people approached such collaboration, what worked well, what some of the unexpected challenges were and how you have used film to create impact on the ground.

Good afternoon. My name is Martin Burt and I am the Executive Director of Fundacion Paraguaya and Teach A Man To Fish. I wanted to thank you for this discussion group because it reinforces what we have learned about the power of storytelling. We are using student interns and (untrained) staff to do short films describing our programs. We are amazed at how much our own clients and beneficiaries appreciate seeing the short films we produce, not to mention our other stakeholders. We hope to do more short films in the future. Thanks again!

Thanks everyone for joining us on Social Edge. We are very excited about the possibilities for this partnership and look forward to some good discussions. I won't add to some of the very good responses that participants are generating, including the discussion on systemic change, and Sandy's response to the New Hope Diner project, which I agree with.

Jed, we would love to see a proposal from you, and it's good to see you in the discussion! Lyn, also good to see you here!

Rosemary, your post brings up and interesting question about how one can work with an issue, in this case feminism and globalism as you say (which might actually be two very different topics), and create a proposal that fits the parameters of the Sundance | Skoll partnership.

In this case, it would be interesting to seek out those who are actively searching for ways to transform the situation of women globally, as well as those working to articulate strategic language and successful initiatives which address this. The Global Fund for Women is one organization you might look at. (www.globalfundforwomen.org)

For a proposal to this fund, we would need to see both the issue and the ways in which people are meeting various challenges in a way that potentially tranforms the system (see Sandy's posting on systemic change), but the basic subject matter is certainly of interest.

Cara and Sandy: Thank you for your positive feedback. In terms of the questions Sandy raised, we, (the scientist/social entrepreneur and I) think a well-crafted film can empower viewers to make qualitative changes in their own lives. Beyond individual viewers, and with the right distribution model, the film can inform and motivate the larger community to demand systemic changes in our food and the health-care systems. All of this based on the latest evolutionary science and on fresh, nutritious and tasty foods that are healthful for the body and mind. Next year, our entrepreneur is going national with his healthful and tasty restaurants and his evolutionary message. He is going to directly challenge two of the titans of the food industry, an industry that often profits from exploiting some of the poorest and most vulnerable consumers in our society.

We greatly appreciate the Skoll Foundation and the Sundance Documentary Fund reaching out to social entrepreneurs and the independent film community with this initiative.

Hi Cara,

Thanks to all of you for opening this forum. It is very helpful. I have gotten another grant in addition to LPBP from the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund to flesh out the proposal and will be re-applying with the film (and a re-focused proposal) to the Skoll Social Entrepreneur Initiative.

In working with a rural community in Mexico, my challenge has been that of maintaining on-going communication, which is difficult in an environment with little phone access and no internet service. These small grants have been very helpful as they will allow me to travel to the region and continue to follow the progress of Ranchero Solidario, a grassroots initiative led by an indomitable Catholic nun named María Dolores to counteract the failed legislation imposed by NAFTA in the Anahuác region in Mexico.

The film will now concentrate on Maria Dolores, and I am researching organizations that may come on board to replicate this cooperative model throughout the Mexican country side.

I would love to hear about other challenges that people are facing and how they are surmounting them.

Dear Sandy/Cara,

Wonderful to have a discussion on a topic that is so close to my heart. It is interesting to read about so many new initiatives taking place the world over.

It has been always believed that only the rich can develop and build enterprises. However, my experience of working with the poor, over the past decade and more has strengthened the belief that innovation can arise and be nurtured from the grassroots itself.

In these last 16 years, at IDEI, I have witnessed the development of hundreds of micro social enterprises. A small farmer who could only dream of providing food and other basic essentials to his/her family; is today able to