There’s nothing like the power of cinema to inspire. But there’s a distinction between inspiring an audience and motivating them to take specific action. Though Underseen is indeed an inspiring story, that aspect was not the first priority in the production. Impact goals were.
Impact goals
From before we shot a single frame of the film, these goals guided the team collaborating to make Underseen:
- Inspire impact investors, policymakers, ecosystem builders and other impact players to mobilise more capital for the social economy
- Raise awareness of Ukraine’s social economy for a mainstream audience
- Change perceptions of visually impaired communities
- Provide a case study of EU efforts for market building in Europe’s east, specifically the Collaborate for Impact project
Reaching these goals means screenings for impact people, policymakers and more, designed to be participatory and inclusive events. We plan to bring together Ukraine’s impact ecosystem builders and the film’s participants to speak on topics such as tailoring policies for the social economy and lessons learnt from impact investing in conflict zones.
We'll be announcing some of these screenings soon. For now, to achieve the film’s impact goals, we’re asking for the support of impact people. If you’re interested in getting involved as a speaker at our screenings or a financial contributor to the impact campaign, please reach out to Ben DeVries for more information.
Inspired by impact people
The team responsible for Underseen’s impact campaign took lessons from the Impact Europe membership community. We were inspired by the work of member Think-Film Impact Production and Danielle Turkov-Wilson. Danielle’s pioneering work uses film as a tool to change minds and effect real-world change. When The Territory was released in 2022, it became the talk of the office, with an impact report to match our enthusiasm (and also inspired us to cover Danielle’s in an interview).
As covered in a previous blog, the story of Underseen originated with Impact Europe members SILab and the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund, Ukraine’s first impact fund. Underseen and Collaborate for Impact, the project working to build the social economy in Europe’s east, are both supported by the European Union. The film’s impact campaign goals 2 and 4 are both directly informed by an understanding of the aspirations and gaps in building Ukraine’s social economy.
Next Steps
Underseen will premiere for an audience of impact leaders during the Leaders Gathering in Venice. After that, our work towards the impact goals of Underseen ramps up, and we can start pushing towards key performance indicators set at the beginning of the project.
Underseen touches several leverage points for change: for visually impaired communities, for Ukraine’s social economy, for impact market building in Europe’s neighbourhood more generally. If your organisation’s work touches these themes, we would value the chance to screen you the film and explore synergies with its impact. Please get in touch.
