Networking, financing opportunities and awards

Networking and financing opportunities

The Impact Days programme is intense. For 3 days, inspiring case studies and keynotes about impact production will be presented, and networking sessions will enable the meeting of filmmakers, changemakers and impact producers from all around the world. In a more casual environment, the cocktails and networking lunches will also be a perfect place to meet professionals from the impact field.  

The creative teams of the 16 documentary projects selected to participate in this 5th edition of Impact Days will present their projects in a public pitching session and will then participate in curated one-to-one meetings with potential partners for their impact campaigns. 

But Impact Days is not only a space full of opportunities for filmmakers - representatives of NGOs and international organizations can also find the perfect match with film teams and raise funds to finance their impact actions.
 

Pitching Session

Public presentation (for Industry accreditation holders and partners) of the 16 selected projects.

The film teams will present their films and impact plans to an audience of NGOs, international organisations and impact funders. Distributors, sales agents and other cinema and television professionals are also welcome to this session.
 

One-to-one meetings (for film teams and organizations)

Through pre-arranged one-to-one meetings, film teams will meet NGOs and foundations who wish to collaborate with or support impact campaigns. Almost 50 organisations participated in the Impact Days 2022.

Some of the foundations having participated in previous editions of the Impact Days: IMS (International Media Service); InMaat Foundation; IRIS (International Resource for Impact & Storytelling); Perspective Fund, OAK Foundation, The StoryBoard Collective (see below) among many others.

In 2022, 6 projects out of 16 received grants for their projects and more than 100,000 Euros were distributed.
 

StoryBoard Matching Grant (for film teams - FIFDH Impact Days 2023)

The StoryBoard Collective is a philanthropic organisation based in Geneva which supports storytelling for social transformation. The StoryBoard Impact Funds works to build capacity in media impact production via strategic partnerships and direct grants.

StoryBoard’s partnership with FIFDH, now in its third year, will match campaign funding made possible by the FIFDH Impact Days, under the following terms: Individual grants matched up to 10,000 CHF per project with a total funding of 30,000 CHF for 2023. Our shared goal is to generate new and expanded support for documentary impact campaigns. 
 

The City of Geneva supports NGOs for impact campaigns

For the second consecutive year, the Department of Solidarity of the City of Geneva (DGVS) has confirmed the possibility for NGOs based in Geneva, or with an operational headquarter in the city, to request funding for activities linked to an impact campaign presented at Impact Days.

If the financing request is accepted, it is granted to the NGO who then uses it to contribute to that specific impact campaign (the film team can then also apply for the matching grant previously mentioned).

Those organizations interested in establishing an impact collaboration with one of the film teams, and in need of financing for it, can write to the Impact Days team for more information.

AWARDS

StoryBoard Impact Strategy Award

New this year, the StoryBoard Impact Award will provide 10,000 CHF to one Impact Days project. The project will be selected in collaboration with FIFDH and will also take into account feedback from organisations and foundations participating in this year’s program. Selection will be based on the quality of the impact strategy, alignment with partner organisations’ goals and potential to realise impact in the near term.  

The Docs Up Fund Award

The Docs Up Fund supports international feature length documentaries dedicated to human rights and encourages awareness of the importance of impact campaigns on all contemporary issues.

The Fund will give an award of 1500 € to support the impact campaign of one of the projects participating in Impact Days and a consulting service for the duration of the film’s editing phase.  

The Docs Up Fund, in coordination with the Impact Days team, will select the winning project by considering: The relevance of the story; the quality of the cinematic narrative; the urgency of the impact campaign and the strength of the developed strategy. 

The Sublimages Impact Award

Based in Granada, Spain, Sublimages is a company specialized in subtitle translation, electronic subtitling, hard-coded and soft-coded subtitles and DCP creation. They have been working in Europe and around the world since 2000 and have been in charge of subtitling the films at the FIFDH since 2016. 

The Sublimages Impact Award aims to support one of the Impact Days projects so it can reach strategic audiences in specific territories where the impact campaign is set, thanks to the provision of free translation of the final version of the film, plus subtitle spotting, into one of these 4 languages: English, French, Spanish or Portuguese.

The awarded project will be jointly selected between Sublimages and Impact Days team.

 

 

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Contact

Laura Longobardi
Co-Editorial Director

Ana Castañosa
Head of Industry

Sophie Mulphin 
Impact Days, Strategic Comm. & NGO Programme Manager


Key dates 2023-2024

5 September 2023
Call for projects opens 

6 October 2023
Project submission deadline 

18 January 2024
Webinar for selected film teams and registered observers

19 January 2024
Webinar for selected film teams only

16 February 2024
Workshop for NGOs and international organisations in Geneva

10-12 March 2024

  • Industry Programme for accredited participants: masterclasses, discussions, case studies, impact screenings and curated networking activities. 
  • Public pitch and one-to-one meetings between selected film teams, NGOs and international organisations, and philanthropists