Going Beyond the Film

by SparkMedia
January 18, 2016  |  Advocacy

The work that we do to advocate for social change extends beyond producing issue-based documentaries. Producing the film is only the beginning of the process, and the time spent researching, filming and editing the documentary is easily matched (if not exceeded) by the time spent planning and implementing outreach campaigns to maximize the impact of our films.

To commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memory on this important day, we invite you to take a look at some of the ways that Spark Media has gone beyond filmmaking to ignite social change.

Community Screenings of No Evidence of Disease

With the help of countless community organizers, No Evidence of Disease has screened for audiences around the globe. Now, with support from the GOG Foundation, Inc., we are working to screen No Evidence of Disease for underserved communities where information about women’s cancers is not widely available. From New York to Austin to the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley, Utah, N.E.D. continues to spread awareness of below-the-belt cancers.

United Nations Symposium on Women’s Cancers

Joining forces with Globe-athon and the Permanent Mission of Grenada, we helped organize the first-ever United Nations Symposium on gynecologic cancers. Doctors, scientists, advocates and community leaders from around the world gathered at the UN Headquarters in New York City to discuss the overwhelming prevalence of women’s cancers in developing nations, as well as possible solutions, best practices and ways to collaborate to eventually cure this disease. Check out these highlights.

Globe-athon in the Caribbean

Discussing below-the-belt health is taboo in many Caribbean cultures. To help jumpstart this life-saving conversation, we partnered with Globe-athon to build a float for the West Indian-American Day Carnival Parade in Brooklyn, one of the biggest parades in the United States, and got the message out about women’s cancers to this underserved community in a BIG way. Check out the highlights here.

Toy Drive for Syrian Children

Our efforts to help raise awareness for the Syrian crisis did not end when we wrapped Red Lines . With your support, we have participated in humanitarian aid drives to Syrian refugees around the world. We recently collected hundreds of toys for a toy drive that brought smiles to the faces of countless displaced Syrian children in camps along the Turkey-Syria border.

“Tears for Syria”

We re-released the “Tears for Syria” music video to raise awareness about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Syria and to highlight the growing refugee crisis.

The Continuing Message of The Pact

Almost a decade after the premiere of The Pact, our award-winning documentary continues to be screened at schools and in communities across the country, bringing the incredible story of the three doctors to a whole new generation of young people.

Anne & Emmett: the other – An Interactive Vehicle for Change

Inspired by Janet Langhart Cohen’s play, Anne & Emmett: the other is an interactive educational game that tackles themes surrounding intolerance and injustice using the stories of Anne Frank and Emmett Till. Having just completed production on the prototype, we will be bringing this unique educational experience into classrooms in the coming months.

Scattering CJ

We are in the beginning stages of this documentary, Scattering CJ . This is an important project that affects all of us, and we hope to open a much-needed dialogue about depression, mental illness and suicide. We can’t wait to tell you more details in the coming months.