New York, NY (September 8, 2022) — Doc Society’s Climate Story Fund announced today nine new projects receiving grants that harness storytelling to advance climate justice and protect biodiversity. These nine projects from across the globe have been awarded a total of $645,000.
This is the Climate Story Fund’s second cohort, which includes a range of formats such as a musical drama, an investigative podcast and documentaries. The Fund prioritizes storytellers working in and from underrepresented communities on the forefront of the climate crisis, providing critical support during production and through impact campaigns. By focusing on narratives that offer powerful solutions to the Climate crisis and also resonate deeply with new audiences, the Climate Story Fund seeks to broaden critical conversations toward collective action.
“There is not one story that will facilitate the climate action we’re looking for. And we know there’s so much more than the stereotypes and singular narratives we tend to see in the mainstream. We need multitudes that are just as diverse as the communities we need to mobilize and the ecosystems we need to protect,” said Doc Society Director Megha Agrawal Sood. “We know there are incredible creative stories out there that are working with local movement leaders to activate communities globally and push the conversation forward. This list of grantees is just a small sample of what is being created.”
The 2022 grantees include:
Can I Live? – Musical Drama (United Kingdom)
Fehinti Balogun (Creator), Tim Bell (Producer), Nur Khairiyah(Impact Producer)
Damages – Investigative Podcast (Australia, Ecuador, Guyana, United States)
Amy Westervelt (Host, Producer)
HotSpot – Docuseries (Southern Africa)
Anita Khanna (Producer, Impact Producer), Franco Clerc, Rehad Desai, Sara Gouveia, Mohau Memeza, Jacqueline van Meygaarden (Directors)
Interspecies – Feature Documentary (Global)
Lucy Walker (Director), Aimara Reques (Producer), David Rosier (Producer), Julian Cautherley (Co Producer)
Laikipia – Feature Documentary (Kenya)
Daphne Matziaraki (Director), Pete Murimi (Director), Toni Kamau (Producer), Maya Craig (DP, Co-producer)
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust – Broadcast Documentary (United States)
Ann Kaneko (Director, Producer), Jin Yoo-Kim (Producer, Impact Producer)
Nocturnes – Feature Documentary (India)
Anupama Srinivasan, Anirban Dutta (Director)
Offshore – Short Documentary (United Kingdom)
Hazel Falck (Director, Producer), Emma Hughes (Impact Producer)
Self-demarcation and Surveillance of the Sawre Muybu IT [Indigenous Territory] – Capacity building workshop and Short Documentary (Brazil)
Coletivo Audiovisual Munduruku (Director, Producer), Carolina Ribas (Impact Producer)
The Climate Story Fund was established in 2020 to deepen Doc Society’s commitment to the climate justice movement by supporting storytellers who are changing the narrative of the climate crisis. Over the past 18 months the fund has awarded $1.9 million in production and impact grants to 27 climate storytelling projects. This includes multiple formats, including Delikado(feature documentary), El Tema (web series), Ain’t Your Mama’s Heatwave(comedy special), Uýra:: The Rising Forest (feature documentary), set across geographies spanning from Latin America to Sub Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia.
Among last year’s grantees is The Territory, a feature documentary portraying the efforts of Indigenous leaders to protect an area of the Amazon Forest in Brazil from deforestation brought by farmers and illegal settlers. The film, directed by Alex Pritz and co-produced with the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people, provides unprecedented access to the farmers and settlers illegally burning and clearing the protected Indigenous land. Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter praised The Territory for its “intimate access to people on several clashing sides of the situation, making for a complex, layered and thoughtful examination.” The film has received numerous awards, including the Audience Award in World Cinema Documentary and World Cinema Special Jury Award in Documentary Craft at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
“Beyond the financial support, we deeply appreciated the mentorship and support from the Doc Society team. Learning from and working with climate strategists and impact producers unlocked the potential of our story and turned it into a catalyst for real, lasting change,” The Territory director Pritz said.
Eighteen projects from previous grant cycles have completed production and have begun distribution and impact campaigns, reaching critical audiences and advancing new narratives. A number of projects are reaching audiences through free to air services on public service broadcasters such as the BBC, POV; via digital platforms like Spotify, YouTube and WhatsApp; traditional festival to theater routes; while others have been picked up by subscription streamers including Netflix, Hulu and Disney+.
The Climate Story Fund’s next global call for applications will be announced in the fall. For more information, go to: docsociety.org/climate-story.