Positioning Films as a Vehicle for
Social Change: The Way Forward
Paul Nwulu
Program Officer
Advance Public Service Media
Ford Foundation
Our General Premise
Cinema has the potential to serve as
a catalyst toward social
transformation and creating a more
socially just world.
Cinema and Social Change
• Shapes our private culture and public
behavior
•Disseminates ideologies and injects values
into the public’s consciousness
•Alters our sense of meaning and can revise
history
•A visual technology that functions as a
powerful teaching machine and intentionally
tries to influence the production of meanings,
identities and experiences (Henry Giroux
2002)
Why Films Drive Change
How Films Drive Change
Accelerating Change
Accelerating Change
• Reduced Barriers to Entry
• Increased audience awareness and desire
for higher quality content
• Need to stand apart and create communities
of like minds
• Need a more robust plan for audience
engagement
•Need “tastemakers” to get involved.
Double Rainbow
Double Rainbow
Double Rainbow
The Formula
Tell a Story
Enlighten
Inspire
Collaborate
Engage
Empower
Inform
Relate