Impact Days 2023

Some films have the power to create long-lasting change. In 2019 the FIFDH launched Impact Days to celebrate and develop cinematic storytelling as a tool for social change. This international Industry programme brings together filmmakers, producers, NGOs and foundations to find alliances and joint strategies around common human rights themes. Now in its fifth year, Impact Days has helped hundreds of participants elevate and amplify the impact of their work.

It’s been a record year for Impact Days! The FIFDH’s Industry programme, which facilitates impact alliances for filmmakers and key players in Geneva’s international ecosystem of organisations, policymakers and funders, has just brought its fifth edition to a close. This year, the impact matchmaking event:

• Welcomed over 150 impact participants from 34 countries for a series of global case studies, talks, training sessions and curated networking opportunities
• Facilitated over one hundred one-to-one meetings, matching potential partners on common social justice and environmental issues
• Introduced a new pitching event, giving 16 selected impact projectsincreased public exposure
• Brought to Geneva, from the 5 continents, all 9 regional advisors of the Global Impact Producers' Alliance (GIPA) – a unique opportunity to hear from those who are shaping the field of Impact Production!
• Hosted an event for Swiss philanthropic organisations to introduce them to the notion and value of Impact Production
• Received increased and new support from national and international partners including the City of Geneva, Fondation Leenaards, Haas Foundation, Rosa Luxembourg Foundation, StoryBoard Collective, the Federal Office for Culture via Media Desk Suisse, and the US-based International Resource for Impact & Storytelling, IRIS.
• Welcomed the Perspective Fund and Ford Foundation, who participated in person in Geneva for the first time

"My first experience of Impact Days has been exciting, because there are very few places where you have the opportunity to be seated next to someone from the UN, and a filmmaker, and a producer, and have these conversations about ways to advance and improve the conditions of human rights around the world." - Jon-Sesrie Goff, Program Officer, JustFilms | Creativity and Free Expression Ford Foundation (USA)

Following our October 2022 open call we received 110 documentary impact projects from all around the world. Sixteen of these were selected to participate in our annual Impact Lab by a committee based in Denmark, India, Mexico and South Africa. The sixteen teams then worked online for several weeks with tutors from Colombia, Kenya, Mexico and the United States, to produce a final impact strategy and pitch for presentation to potential partners and funders in Geneva. Of these sixteen projects, three received special awards - with a distinct theme emerging this year. Through the stories they have chosen to tell and the impact campaigns developed around these, each of our 2023 prizewinning teams are fighting for women and girls’ rights and freedoms:
 

The StoryBoard Collective’s Impact Fund works to build capacity in media impact production via strategic partnerships and direct grants. The StoryBoard Impact Campaign Award of 10,000 CHF was presented to:

My Name is Happy by Ayse Toprak (Turkey) and Nick Read (UK). The inspirational story of teenage singing sensation Mutlu Kaya as she makes a remarkable journey from gunshot victim to fearless survivor. As she battles to heal her haunting voice, she campaigns for women’s rights in Turkey and beyond.

 

The StoryBoard Collective’s Impact Fund awards also a second prize. The StoryBoard Impact Strategy and Planning Grant of 2,500 CHF was presented to:
 

Let's Play Soldiers, by Mariam Al-Dhubhani (Yemen), an important story about Nasser, a 16 years old child soldier who, after returning home, wants to protect his two younger brothers from following his same path.  

 

The DOCS UP Fund awards 1,500 € to support an impact campaign, and provides consulting services for the duration of the film’s editing phase. It was presented to:

Scarlet Girls by Paula Cury (Dominican Republic), a lyrical documentary in which women of all ages speak about the challenges and consequences of illegal abortion in the Dominican Republic.

 

The Sublimages Award provides free translation and subtitling for greater reach to strategic audiences, for an average value in kind of € 2'000. It was awarded to:

Land of Women by Aymar El Amir and Nada Riyadh (Egypt). The film follows a group of energetic and humorous young Coptic women who rebel against their society's norms by forming an all-female street theatre troupe.

 

"C'est un environnement unique où se rencontrent des réalisateurs de documentaires partageant les mêmes idées, où nous sommes tous intéressés à faire une différence. Ce fut une expérience importante que de créer un réseau de personnes comme celles-ci, avec lesquelles nous développerons certainement de futurs projets". - Parsifal Reparato, Producteur, AntropicA Films (Italie)

L'équipe des Impact Days tient à remercier chaleureusement toutes celles et ceux qui sont venus des quatre coins du monde pour nous faire part de leurs histoires marquantes. Nous vous souhaitons beaucoup de succès dans vos projets d'impact à venir ! 

Notre prochain appel à projets aura lieu en septembre, stay tuned!

Programme 2023

Webinar 2023

2023 Selected projects

Palmarès 2023

Matching grant with StoryBoard Collective

Selection criteria

Networking, financing opportunities and awards

The FIFDH Impact Days are organised in collaboration with:

With the support of: