Our grantees inspire social change every day. That change takes many forms - from headline grabbing to quiet shifts in hearts and minds. Here are just a few examples.
Gasland made a huge impact on the anti-fracking movement. A recent study from the University of Iowa found that “screenings of Gasland in different locations had an effect on the mobilization of local campaigns against the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing; in turn, those local mobilizations made local policymakers significantly more likely to take action to ban the practice of fracking.”
Escape Fire broke new ground in the area of professional education for physicians in practice, obtaining two prescribed CME (continuing medical education) credits for viewing Escape Fire and completing an online assessment.
Bully, and The Bully Project, have created a movement of youth that stand up to bullying on and offline. The Facebook page alone, with over 1 million followers, demonstrates the depth and breadth of reach this film has had.
Virunga had its official African broadcast premiere on AfriDocs, screening in all 49 countries across sub-saharan Africa on satellite channel DSTV ED190 and terrestrial channel GOtv 65. On June 5th, the film screened in Cape Town at a special premiere hosted by African business leader and Virunga partner, Investec Asset Management for the business and investment community. The film is currently showing in a number of African locations as part of its screening tour, including Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Mayotte and Goma.
The Invisible War launched a national conversation about sexual assault in the U.S. military. Since then, it has been the driving force behind structural and political changes that still continue today.
“Many great documentaries have been nominated for Oscars, yet few if any have done so much to actually change culture and policy as quickly as The Invisible War,”
Inspired by a screening of Food Chains and the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, The US Conference of Mayors passed a resolution to address the US farm labor system.
Through community screenings and media socials, screening house parties and an opinion piece in the local paper, Lunch Love Community fed the movement for a local soda tax in Berkeley – the first in the United States.
All of these efforts helped in a massive community grassroots effort to build awareness for Measure D, and fight the forces of The American Beverage Association (who spent $2million just in Berkeley to defeat the tax).
“I would have never thought that even three years ago, that my work and Lunch Love Community would have such an impact as events unfolded here among policymakers. Now, the Lunch Love Community film project will forever be linked to the first, pioneering “Measure D” story & citizen’s effort to take back the health of a community. The Soda Tax funds will be used to reinstate the cooking and gardening programs (in LLC) that have been decimated by the removal of federal funding.”
– Helen DeMichiel, Lunch Love Community Director
Power Poetry was launched in April of 2012 as an adjunct program of the documentary To Be Heard. It has grown to be the largest and most interactive mobile/online youth poetry community, now at over 250,000 users.
“Debbie’s Law” in Illinois will be a new state law amending both the Code of Corrections and the Code of Civil Procedures in order to assist incarcerated victims of domestic violence and victims of domestic violence facing charges for allegedly committing crimes against their abusers. This law grew directly out of Crime After Crime screenings and outreach efforts in Illinois, particularly those conducted in coordination with Loyola University Chicago, the American Bar Association, and the Chicago-based Jewish domestic violence prevention organization, SHALVA. They will also plan to further screenCrime After Crime in Illinois to assist with judicial education programs, legal trainings, etc. The bill was signed into law by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner on August 17, 2015, and is effective January 1, 2016.
What Tomorrow Brings‘ “Build a School Today” campaign is a success. The campaign was announced in June 2015 alongside the “What Tomorrow Brings” film campaign. In June, the filmmaker Beth Murphy worried they had taken on more than they could handle. But in just 40 days they raised more than $115,000 to build the first women’s college in rural Afghanistan.
The team behind American Promise has created a NYTimes Op-Doc video, “A Conversation about Growing Up Black”. In the piece, they ask African-American boys and young men to speak candidly about the daily challenges they face because of these realities. They speak openly about what it means to be a young black man in a racially charged world and explain how they feel when their parents try to shelter and prepare them for a world that is too often unfair and biased.
We offer grants to support outreach and engagement for social issue documentary film projects that have the potential to inspire positive social change around issues that affect the most vulnerable. These are our most recent grantees.
Click here to apply >>
“The Fledgling Fund is first and foremost a great partner and collaborator. The Bully Project continues to thrive today nearly three years after our film’s release, having reached over four million kids and communicating daily to over one million Facebook supporters! None of this would have been possible without the faith, support and fellowship they have provided.”
– Lee Hirsch, The Bully Project