March 2022 Update from IRIS
Cara Mertes at Impact Days, FIFDH. Background art: Content House Kenya @contenthouseke.
“At the 20th International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in Geneva, I addressed the convening with a ‘Letter to Tomorrow: The Cultural Imperative.’ In this keynote, I explored creative strategies that address cultural power. FIFDH’s commitment to positively impact the world we live in is reflected in the selection of 16 documentary projects for Impact Days 2022. The diverse stories unite filmmakers committed to improving the situation of their protagonists by using the films as tools for social change. The final line-up is a result of a highly competitive selection process by the Impact Days organizers who received 110 submissions last year.”
A new team member and a new partnership: IRIS and Mimeta
The IRIS team is growing. Laila Hourani has joined as IRIS’ Middle East and North Africa Lead, parallelling her work as Mimeta’s new Program Director. Founded by Managing Director Cato Litangen, Mimeta is a Norwegian NGO focused on the protection of cultural rights and freedom of expression internationally, with a legacy of work in the Middle East and Africa. With Laila’s guidance and Cato’s support, IRIS and Mimeta will launch our collaboration with a joint event during the WEXFO World Expression Forum in Lillehammer, Norway on May 30/31, 2022. The Forum will feature a forthcoming IRIS report on the resources and opportunities for advancing Safety and Security of Moving Image Artists.
IRIS’ blog launches
Hello, storytelling world! IRIS’ shared-learning blog space is launching with some new writing by IRIS’ Narrative Lead Brett Davidson, formerly of Open Society Foundations. Watch this space for information and resources in the narrative philanthropy and civically engaged storytelling ecosystems. We’ll showcase our partners and their projects and keep you updated on what we’re hearing from the ground and around the network. Contributions welcome!
In the inaugural piece, Brett asks, “What do we mean by effective storytelling?” He has focused on this question throughout his professional career and has influenced the theory behind our key concepts over his decades of work.
“Stories are not magic bullets and impact isn’t linear. This resonates with IRIS’ approach—it’s why we work with storytellers who embrace nonlinear, complex, and unpredictable narratives that drive concrete benefits back to story source communities.”
Amnesty International releases Marc Silver’s Breathe
One million views on Facebook and half a million on Youtube make filmmaker Marc Silver’s animated short Breathe a compelling example of why IRIS brings together filmmakers and activists for deep and long-lasting learning partnerships. Billions of people in the Global South are still missing out on life-saving vaccines. Amnesty International’s campaign for ending vaccine inequality reached new audiences with this aesthetically and technically innovative production, developed while Marc Silver was an embedded Creative Storytelling Fellow within Amnesty International’s digital rights team. Watch it now on Youtube:
IRIS on the go
We’ll be sure to post event invites and save-the-date announcements for our upcoming public events on our LinkedIn, twitter, and Instagram pages. Besides attending FIFDH, Cara Mertes will participate in the annual Qumra meeting of Arab filmmakers in March, attend the Skoll World Forum in April, and the WEXFO World Expression Forum in May. Latin America Regional Lead Graci Selaimen took part in the MiradasDoc International Film Festival and the 3i Festival in March, and will be mentoring a program at the Accelerating the Digital Transformation program of ICFJ and META.