Deadlines
Changemaker Film Competition 2018
Examples and Resources
Examples of Student Films
To see student films from the last two seasons of the Changemaker Film Competition, visit the Ballard Center YouTube page.
Examples of Social Innovation Films
We have also provided these example films for your reference. These films are from both independent and professional creative agencies and advertising agencies.
Spark MicroGrants: This is the featured film in our judging criteria video (shown above). It portrays a community in Africa enabled to improve their infrastructure, perpetuate education, and empower each individual to live with dignity through the socially innovative program 'Spark MicroGrants'. In addition to the professional and engaging cinematography, this film exemplifies the five elements we hope to see in every Changemaker Film--Innovation, Impact, Scalability, Sustainability, and Self-Reliance.
Nokia, "Slum Ballet": This film tells the story of poverty through the main interviewee. The impact of the school is shown through the lives of the students in the ballet classes and through the emotion of the main interviewee's story. The story develops and builds at a good pace and the cinematography is clean.
Opportunity International Australia, "My Magic Mum": This is probably the most creative approach to social impact storytelling that we've seen. Through the story you learn about the social problem (poverty affects a family's ability to send their children to school and provide for basic needs) and the solution (microgrants enable families to have opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable). All of these ideas are packaged in a creative, engaging, scripted film.
Our Jail's a Zoo!: A really accessible approach to telling the story of social impact at a local community level. The main interviewee explains the problem clearly but briefly: many people in prisons have made mistakes, but they're being locked up with violent criminals instead of being rehabilitated. The impact is told through the story of Mike and the horse named Ghost. The main interviewee shows how her work is making a difference for each inmate and invites others to do the same.
Here are links to even more films to spark your creativity:
Operation Smile--Kiran's Story (by The Good Line)
Gap Kids "Forward with Confidence"
Welcome to the End of the World
Deng Thiak Adut Unlimited, Western Sydney University
Hantam Education Trust--The Windmill