Guardians of Mother Language
The Indigenous language is among the forms of expression of intangible heritage in the world. It is therefore important to be aware that as Indigenous languages disappear, the culture and identity of large numbers of Indigenous people also disappears. The main objective of this project is to make a series of portraits, and audio postcards as well as a documentary record that shows the environment of these communities and preserve the identity of the inhabitants. Indigenous people who fight not to let their mother tongue die.

Juan Carlos Reyes García is a Oaxaqueño documentary photographer with more than 30 years of experience, specializing in photo-documentation of interculturality in traditional Indigenous and community practices of Mexico, mainly in Oaxaca.

For Juan Carlos Reyes, photography is a way to connect with the vulnerability of others in order to discover human strength.

Juan Carlos Reyes is a member of the National System of Art Creators in Mexico.

Instagram: @aluro30, @aluro30_portraits 

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Yalalteca, Mexican Indigenous documentary photographer, Citlali Fabián uses photography to  explore ways of addressing identity and its connections with territory, migration and community bonds. Fabián is a 2020 Visura mentee, Magnum fellow, England Art Council Grantee, National Geographic Society explorer and a 2023 World Press Photo Contest jury member.

Her work has been shown in solo and collective exhibitions in Mexico, the U.S., Spain and Argentina. Her work has been covered at the New York Times and it also has appeared in different media like LA Times, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Remezcla, Revista Cuartoscuro and IM Magazine among others. 

For her Bertha Artivism Awards project, Citlali is co-creating a series of portraits with her birhas, to reflect and visualize the roles of contemporary Indigenous women in their communities. The project will create a series for girls in Oaxaca state, to expand their horizons and get inspired by women with their backgrounds.  

“Birha is a concept in Zapotec, the native language of my ancestors, used by women to refer to other women in their lives; the ones with whom we have emotional connections. It can be used from aunties to nieces and back, between cousins, and sisters, but also between friends. The concept obliterates hierarchies and reaffirms sorority as an intrinsic part of our worldview.“

Website: www.citlalifabian.com
Instagram: @citlalifabian

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Collective DePART / audio installation: IF ALL EARS COULD HEAR

The Collective DePART – Decentralized Practices of Active Remembrance and Theatricalization – is a transdisciplinary collective of international artists and facilitators playing with the intersection of art, activism and research. Anna Szepes (HU/AT), Cat Jugravu (DE/RO), Jonas Baur (AT/DE) and Dominik Jellen (AT) began their collaboration during their master’s degree studies in Applied Theatre – Artistic Theatre Practice & Society at Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. Their political working themes and their research-oriented formats emphasize community building, the involvement of local partners and the exploration of untold stories and forgotten shadow histories. The collective aims to question the dominant narratives that shape our understanding of the past, seeking a more nuanced and inclusive perspective on remembrance. 

DePART created its core project IF ALL EARS COULD HEAR in 2021. The audio installation was developed with international collaborators and has so far been presented in four cities in three European countries. It is a participatory and performative piece focusing on the practice of active remembrance. As a temporary, wandering and tender memorial, the installation marks erased and forgotten sites of oppression. Through the creation of witness partnerships, letters are written to individuals, Rom*nja and Sinti*zze, who were murdered during Porajmos, the genocide of Roma people during fascism in World War II. As only biographical fragments remain, the installation aims to reclaim their memory and give voice to their imagined stories. The letters are written and then recorded by authors who are activists and creators from Roma communities as well as supporters. The growing archive of letters marks the past as present and creates a space for mourning. By imagining the individual stories of the addressed persons and by highlighting the practices of resistance of those addressing, the installation offers gentle, loving, empowering as well as angry and demanding counter-narratives to erasure and forgetting. Growing out of the ground and sending the voices of the authors across the field, the installation asks the audience to become accomplices by acknowledging the inescapable relevance of the past and by taking personal responsibility for solidarity. The letter archive’s narrative of care is honoring the soil as the source and bearer of memory and history, and describes listening as a beginning. 

With the support of Bertha Foundation, DePART will continue its work dedicated to the local specificities of Porajmos in Hungary. By developing a methodological toolkit and training multipliers, the collective aims to make their practice of Active Remembrance accessible to communities everywhere. By developing an online version of the installation, the archive of letters will be accessible around the world.

Website:  www.depart.community
Instagram: @depart.collective

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Photo Credit: Márton K. Takács

Detroit Narrative Agency (DNA) is a community organization that disrupts harmful dominant media narratives by supporting Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) to explore and create media storytelling projects that build collective healing, power and liberation. We focus on non-extractive media storytelling, centering and amplifying the voices of our city, and providing skillbuilding opportunities within film and media production with a focus on community impact. Since 2015, DNA has been providing BIPOC storytellers with workshops, fellowships, community and ways to learn through practice to build a foundation of narrative power throughout Detroit. Our work is grounded in anti-oppression principles and our values of powerful storytelling, person and place based relationships, radical creativity and learning.

Radical Remedies, DNA’s rapid response video project where Detroit creators create art relevant to an issue impacting BIPOC Detroiters for liberation, for healing and for information. Filmmakers are encouraged to create and submit a short film, five minutes or less, responding to a prompt on a topic that is relevant in impacting our communities. Through the Bertha Artivism Awards, DNA will be able to expand to producing and screening these Radical Remedies, document behind-the scenes looks at our projects and their impact and connect audiences with the storytellers to expand community building and collective problem solving.

Website: detroitnarrativeagency.org
Instagram: @detnarrative
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/detroitnarrativeagency/

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Runa Kawsay is a collaborative transmedia project that centers the experiences of the Kichwa diasporic community living in North America. Through community building, regenerative storytelling and collaborative photo practice, this project seeks to drive new narratives around indigeneity, particularly from a Kichwa lens. 

By leaning on traditional Kichwa practices of gathering and storytelling, Eli will host photo education workshops with the people she has photographed for this series. Eli will develop community photo education workshops where those she has photographed will be directly involved in the construction of a visual narrative.

Eli Farinango is a Kichwa artist and visual storyteller, born in Quito, Ecuador and raised in Ottawa, Canada. Through her practice she explores the vastness and beauty of the healing journey while making intentional space to reclaim personal and ancestral memory through image-making and collaborative processes. Her work appears in the Women Photographers International Archive, British Journal of Photography, The New Republic, NPR, Where The Leaves Fall, Terremoto Magazine and has been exhibited in various venues across North America including Photoville, Toronto Media Arts Center, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, the International Center of Photography and Leica Gallery Miami. 

Eli has received grants and awards from Women Photograph, Indigenous Photograph, National Geographic Society and Ontario Arts Council and most recently (2022) she was awarded the Leica Women Foto Project Award. 

Website: Elifarinango.com
Instagram: @elifarinango

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POSÁ SUTO (Our House in Palenque language) is an Afrocentric and anti-racist space by and for black, queer, trans, diverse people seeking freedom, healing and justice. Our House, a deeply spiritual and ancestrally artistic space which finds through art, collectivity, the resignification of love, ancestral medicine and all the magic of queerness, the paths to heal and strengthen our existences. Our tools to celebrate black queer lives are the Maricrófonos where we display the art of maricas Negras (black queer folks), the spiritual healing sessions to vindicate our afrodiasporic ancestry, as well as the school for body knowledge and empowerment for afro kids. 

The Afrojuvenil Matamba Foundation is an alternative and popular media. With an ethnic/racial focus that revolves around a policy of anti-racist action, sexual and gender dissidence; we seek to make visible the realities of black communities in Colombia. Matamba produces; a biannual digital magazine, audiovisual productions, research and intervention projects, On-site/virtual forums and a wonderful group called: “Negrxs, Maricas y Disidentes” (Black, Queer and Dissident).

AFROFUTURISTIC ARTIVISM
Artivismo Marica Afrofuturista
POSÁ SUTO  and Matamba will gather more than 20 black queer artivists to share knowledge, tools, strategies and life experiences in order to strengthen and promote gender queer black artists in Colombia, through a platform for training and content creation and dissemination. We will work on topics of our interests such as  Blackness and Racial Justice, Identity and Gender Diversities, Afrofuturism, Black Artivism, Mental Health and Spirituality with Afrodiasporic approach, Digital Marketing and Organizational Strengthening. The project aims to be a space for collective artivist creation that can recognize the voices, experiences and actions of resistance and re-existence from art and social advocacy of young black sexual dissidents in Colombia.

Posá Suto
Instagram: https://instagram.com/posa.suto?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/posasuto 

Fundación Afrojuvenil Matamba
Instagram: https://instagram.com/matambarevista?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@revistamatamba3407
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatambaRevista/

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The Javaad Alipoor Company is a contemporary theater company that makes work for a changing world and a global audience. Rooted in experimental and multi-platform practice the Company’s work asks the most pressing questions we all face, with a commitment to internationalism, complexity, diversity and fun. We make work for the 21st Century, transforming what people think theater can be and what it can do. 

The Javaad Alipoor Company (TJAC) will lead a unique community engagement project focused on empowering the Gypsy Roma and Traveller (GRT) community in North West England through skills development and artist workshops and performances from March – May 2024, delivered in close collaboration with KaskoSan. KaskoSan are founded by East European Roma living in the UK, who’ve grown a proactive and self-assertive community that is proudly reclaiming its culture to erase centuries of misinformation about Romani speakers and their descendants.

Website: https://javaadalipoor.co.uk
Instagram: @javaadalipoor
Facebook: @TheJavaadAlipoorCompany
X: @javaadalipoor

Photo credit: Chris Payne

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Raam is an Iranian musician, writer, actor and podcast host. He started his musical career in the undergrounds of Tehran. With a great deal of international press behind his band, including features in New York Times, MTV, Billboard, NPR, CNN, VICE, NME and Vanity Fair, Raam paved the way for a new generation of aspiring underground Iranian artists. In January 2018, Raam’s father, Kavous Seyed Emami, a prominent environmentalist, was arrested in Tehran under false charges of espionage. Two weeks after his arrest he was killed in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. Raam and his family attempted to flee Iran, but the authorities detained his mother and confiscated her passport. Raam and his brother were allowed to leave, but his mother was held hostage in Iran for 582 days. Besides his live shows with his band, Raam has also channeled his creative energy into a one man storytelling performance called “Departure” about his family’s experience and his father’s legacy, woven together with his music. He also has a podcast in Persian called “Masty o Rasty,” since its inception in 2020 the show has had over 40 million streams.

As an expatriate artist grappling with the ramifications of political violence, Raam has consistently employed his artistic endeavors and platforms to articulate solidarity and amplify the voices of those relegated to the margins or forcibly silenced. The inception of the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran served as a catalyst, sparking a formidable uprising led by the courageous women of the nation, galvanized by the tragic death of Mahsa Amini. During this pivotal movement, Raam engaged with numerous women, each sharing poignant narratives of their struggles for freedom, their fundamental human rights and, notably, autonomy over their own bodies. Motivated by a desire to document the life experiences of those courageously risking everything, Raam initiated a project for the Bertha Artivism Awards wherein he undertook the composition and production of songs using the poems of Iranian women. These women, constrained by the looming specter of reprisal, are denied the privilege of publicly expressing their experience and writings through song. To circumvent this suppression, Raam enlisted singers from countries enjoying the liberties of a more emancipated society, tasking them with bringing to life the poignant verses crafted by these Iranian women. This creative initiative thus seeks to bridge the gap between disparate societal freedoms, fostering a cross-cultural exchange of voices and narratives that transcend the limitations imposed by political constraints.

Website: www.kingraam.com
Instagram: @kingraam 

Photo Credits: Tori Ferenc, Hami Roshan

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Makani works with refugee women to overcome trauma, fight for their rights, and to change their lives and the world around them – all through the transformative power of the arts. Makani were originally founded to work with Syrian and Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon, where they have put on a reimagined production of Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’, worked with refugee women to make films about their lives, and run Oshana, a long-term craft therapy project that also helps women win financial independence. Makani now also work in London with refugee women from all over the world, where they are putting on a reinterpretation of an ancient Greek comedy about women going on strike to end a war.

Film for Freedom: filmmaking with refugee and asylum-seeking women
The Bertha Artivism Award will enable Makani to start their second UK project, training ten refugee and asylum-seeking women in the fundamentals of filmmaking, mentoring them as they make films on the issues of their choice, connecting them with organizations working on these issues and supporting them to use their films in campaigning and awareness-raising. This project comes at a time when refugee rights are severely under threat in the UK with the government’s proposal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the general inhumanity of the asylum system. Refugees and asylum seekers are facing increasing scapegoating and xenophobia, and forced to live in dire poverty in shocking conditions. Creating space for empathy and understanding, and creating films that can be used in campaigning, could not be more timely or more needed.

Website: www.makani.org.uk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/makani_org   

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DJ Kamakani is an Artist whose chosen canvas for the past decade has been Institutional Transformation. He has worked to create conditions that are conducive to catalyzing transformation within legacy institutions such as Higher Education and Executive Leadership across sectors. Now he is working through the universal language of music to move hearts and minds towards reconnection with our Grandmother Earth.

DJ Kamakani has been working with a collective of leaders from Molokai to create and curate a multi-genre compilation album to raise global awareness of Molokai’s efforts to buy back their ancestral lands from the absentee, billionaire landowners who have neglected and mismanaged these lands for too long. The Artists selected are / will be Indigenous and Indigenous-ally Artists from across the Hawaiian islands and beyond. Through this project, the collective seeks to uplift the global LANDBACK movement of returning entire landscapes to Indigenous stewardship in exciting and inspiring ways.

Website: Molokai Heritage Trust: https://www.molokaiheritagetrust.org/
Instagram: @the_real_dj_kamakani 

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Michael Jabareen is an artist, designer, architect and performer from Palestine. He was born in occupied Palestine in the city of Nazareth and grew up in Jenin with two parents whose families were forcibly displaced by the Zionist militia during the Palestinian Nakba around 1948, from Beit Jebrin-AlKhalil (Hebron) and Yafa (Jaffa). Michael, with an academic background in architectural engineering and visual and experience design, works in the intersections between visual arts, graphics, videography, theatrical performance and spatial and architectural design. In his projects and collaborations, Michael, through his art, aims to expose the atrocities and crimes of global colonial structures, and hopes to guide the public to act for change rather than stand by and watch.

Ramez Melhem is a multimedia artist. He was born in Homs-Syria, and he has been based in Berlin since 2014. Ramez has professional experience that varies between logistics and studio management, production, visual design and photography. He works on a diverse range of artistic projects using photography and digital collages tackling social and political causes.

The Terminal is a mobile periodical event that focuses on displaying the artwork (visual art, video, audio, performance, etc.) of artists from migrant, refugee, marginalized and discriminated backgrounds who face hardships and difficulties in traveling from their current geographical locations to places with artistic production capacities and audience. With Berlin as the base of the project, as one of Europe’s arts hubs, the audience/public will be part of a performative, interactive experience that switches the privileges of freedom of movement between the artists and the audience, believing that a simulation to reality and creating a memorable personal experience with it will help the audience to better understand it and act to change it.

Instagram: @michaelmjabareen, @ramez_melhem

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Rawz is a Multidisciplinary Artist from Oxford. His practice centers around words and music, and is rooted in social justice and the exploration and understanding of our interconnected worlds. Growing up in one of the UK’s most under-served areas, Greater Leys in Oxford, he first discovered lyric writing in his early teens, finding it an essential way to channel his emotions and organize his thoughts. Since then, Rawz has performed his craft all over Europe, collaborated with musicians from all over the world, and shared stages with some of his childhood heroes. As his practice as a Poet and Musician developed, Rawz explored other means of expression; bringing these skills together with his poetry and music to create projects which combine a range of media. Through Art, Rawz shares his exploration of interconnection and interdependence. His responses often promote outer change and advancement through inner reflection, and positive action. From leaving school with no GCSEs, to becoming Resident Sound Artist at one of the world’s most prestigious learning institutions, his personal journey stands as testament to his resilient character, and strong work ethic.

ArtUnity is a project rooted in the power of art to break down barriers and initiate social change. It incorporates various artistic mediums, genres and narratives to address the divides and disparities within the UK city of Oxford, which contains some of the starkest contrasts in the country, particularly in the context of socio-economic and racial inequalities. Throughout the year, the project will commission work from artists with a diverse range of life experiences, curate and facilitate exhibitions, events and happenings that encourage networking and collaboration among activists, artists and community members, with the aim of creating a strong and unified movement for social change. The project’s events provide opportunities for art appreciation, ideation, networking and collaborative action. The ultimate aim is to foster understanding, collaboration and solidarity between various intersecting groups in the city, by bringing them to the same table and creating shared identity through storytelling and art. 

Facebook: @realrawz
Instagram: @rawz_official
Twitter: @realrawz
Bandcamp: www.InnerPeaceRecords.bandcamp.com

Grid Photo Credit: Oxford Atelier

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The Bertha / Doc Society Journalism Fund was an international film fund dedicated to supporting long form feature documentaries of a journalistic nature. Starting in 2017, the Journalism Fund sought to provide more consistent, deeper support for filmmakers, often funding from development through to outreach and providing security support and legal advice where needed.

Films completed through this fund are listed in the Bertha Media Directory.

Learn more about the Bertha / Doc Society Journalism Fund.

The Guardian and Bertha Foundation commissioned a series of 12 short documentary films from independent film-makers. The series covers global stories, with a focus on films that have the ability to advance the contemporary issues that they address, and raise awareness of people and movements who are catalysts for change.

Film completed through this fund are listed in the Bertha Media Directory.

Learn more about the Guardian Bertha Documentary Partnership.

AXS Film Fund strives to support independent documentary filmmakers and nonfiction new media creators of color with disabilities in their endeavors to tell stories, make films and create content.

The AXS Film Fund Seeks to:

• – Award creators, who identify themselves as a person of color having a disability(ies), in documentary filmmaking and nonfiction new media a one-time grant that will aid them in successfully completing their projects.
• – Help more ethnic minorities with disabilities get recognition and job opportunities in the film industry.
• – Help create more diversity amongst creators and the stories told. 

Learn more about the AXS Film Fund.

The Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, North-West London, is a local theater and cinema venue with an international vision. Their mission is to bring unheard voices into the mainstream, telling human stories that resonate across cultures and show the world through new and different lenses. 

The Bertha-Kiln Writers Program is an opportunity for Women writers of Color to create brand-new plays which use their unique voices to comment on our society and to create stories that will shape the future.

Learn more about the Kiln Theatre.

Brown Girls Doc Mafia’s (BGDM) mission is to bolster the creative and professional success of women and non-binary people of color working in the documentary industry, and to challenge the often marginalizing norms of the documentary field.

The BGDM Black Directors Grant aims to cultivate Black directors within BGDM and help propel their projects forward. This Grant aims to support projects that are steeped in the Black experience, and whose director’s craft, storytelling ability and unique point of view reflects and uplifts the Black experience or perspective. Projects include documentary films, podcasts, hybrid doc/fiction, video art and new media.

Learn more about the BGDM Black Directors Fellowship.

With the support of the Bertha Foundation, InsightShare launched the Living Cultures Indigenous Fellowship in 2020, a groundbreaking strategy that delivers remote training to Indigenous Peoples wishing to harness participatory media as a tool for engaging and mobilizing their communities.

In 2021 InsightShare has trained 38 young Indigenous leaders based in six communities across southern and eastern Africa, supporting them to use communication technologies safely for self-determination, self-representation and positive local action. Six video hubs have been established with some of these hubs are already functioning autonomously of InsightShare, producing their own films, extending training to community members and neighboring groups.

Learn more about the Living Cultures Indigenous Fellowship.

Just Vision fills a media gap on Israel-Palestine through independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement.

They believe that accurate, nuanced storytelling is essential for shaping public norms, challenging the divisions that dominate the political landscape and creating greater understanding. Just Vision’s work creates opportunities for constructive engagement by undermining stereotypes and telling the stories that are often missed but are crucial to shaping how audiences think about and engage on the most pressing issues of the day.

They are a team of filmmakers, journalists, storytellers and human rights advocates who envision a pluralistic, just and rights-respecting future in the region. They place documentary filmmaking and journalism, coupled with strategic audience engagement, at the center of our mission because we believe that stories have the power to shape public norms, equip audiences with vital information, undermine stereotypes and inspire.

Learn more about Just Vision.

Life Mosaic supports communities and movements to build their capacity to protect their rights, cultures and territories and to determine their own futures. They connect grassroots experiences across continents, sharing stories from the frontline of the social and environmental crises, and inspirational stories and strategies to build skills, hope and resilience.

Life Mosaic produces and shares tools for empowerment to support local movements, organizers and facilitators in their awareness-raising and advocacy work with communities. 

Life Mosaic supports the emergence of the next generation of Indigenous leaders, with the calling, critical awareness, skills and love of their culture to defend and look after their territories.They help create the conditions for leaders and communities to take informed action, and in turn to become catalysts: supporting others to take action; accelerating positive change; growing movements.

Learn more about Life Mosaic.

As a human rights media organization, Skylight’s work has focused on amplifying the voice of constituencies battling for social justice and their rights since its founding in 1981. The content Skylight produces – from documentary films to a range of digital media projects – creates a media ecosystem that strengthens a culture of rights and engaged citizenship.

Skylight combines the storytelling arts with human rights media strategies, joining the battle for narrative in the service of social movements, creating networks of solidarity between artists, media makers and activists. A process that has made them a part of battles for the narrative in movements around the world.

Learn more about Skylight.

WITNESS makes it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend human rights. By providing training, support and tools to millions of people around the world, WITNESS is powering up a new generation of human rights defenders. 

The majority of the world’s population now has a camera in their pocket. People everywhere are turning to video to document and tell stories of abuse. WITNESS identifies critical situations and teaches those affected by them the basics of video production, safe and ethical filming techniques and advocacy strategies.

Learn more about WITNESS.

Bertha DocHouse is the UK’s first cinema dedicated solely to documentary. Based at Curzon Bloomsbury in Central London, they screen the best new releases, festival favorites, retrospective titles and curated seasons providing an exciting platform for documentary filmmakers and nurturing a new generation of doc lovers. With a program packed with filmmaker Q&As, masterclasses, discussions, special events and an online hub accessible from anywhere in the world, Bertha DocHouse is the UK’s home of documentary.

Learn more about Bertha Dochouse.

The Bertha Movie House is a community cinema based at the Isivivana Centre, a social justice and community center in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Khayelitsha, with now over two million residents, was established during Apartheid as a township “for Blacks only,” apart from Cape Town which was “for whites only.” Post-democracy it has grown and evolved, with local residents establishing homegrown creative hubs, food outlets and other opportunities. 

Bertha Movie House provides a visual space for Khayelitsha’s growing narrative, with the cinema priding itself in uniting the community with local and international films focused on edutainment and social justice.

Learn more about Bertha Movie House.

The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival is the country’s formative documentary event, screening contemporary South African and International features and short documentaries. The goal of the festival is to:

• – Create a vital platform for the documentary film industry in South Africa and the African continent through the delivery of a well-organized 10-day Festival in Johannesburg & Cape Town.
• – Advance and promote documentary cinema as a creative art form; as well as to champion its role as an effective tool for stimulating democratic debate, tolerance and understanding.
• – Develop audiences beyond suburban areas, through the Inreach programme
• – Engage audiences through Q&A sessions and panel discussions on relevant and critical issues.
• – Support the careers of filmmakers through the implementation of training and development opportunities such as the Close Encounters Laboratory, Producers Workshop, Encounters Rough Cut Lab, Master Classes, Inreach/Access Project and employment on the Festival.
• – Broker financial opportunities for film professionals with broadcasters, film festivals, funders and commissioning editors.

Learn more about the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival.

FiSahara is an international film festival that offers entertainment and training to the Saharawi refugee people, and that makes visible a conflict that has been without resolution for four decades since Morocco invaded Western Sahara in 1975. This solidarity cultural project was born in 2003 from a shared dream among the Spanish filmmaker community and the Saharawi people: to take the cinema to one of the most remote places in the world, the refugee camps in the Hammada, “the desert of the deserts.” In 2011, FiSahara opened the Abidin Kaid Saleh film school, which trains young Saharawi filmmakers at Bojador camp. 

Learn more about FiSahara International Film Festival.

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) offers an independent and inspiring meeting place for audiences and professionals to see a diverse and high-quality program. IDFA offers an alternative to mass entertainment and uniformity, confirming that there is an increasing need in audiences for high-quality films that delve deep and urge audiences to reflect. The IDFA Bertha Fund, specifically, supports filmmakers and documentary projects from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Oceania (IBF regions).

Learn more about IDFA.

The Juba Film Festival encourages and supports local South Sudanese filmmakers to tell Indigenous narratives that reflect the country’s culture. With no film school or commercial cinema in South Sudan, the festival provides practical training, experience and equipment for filmmakers to produce films about local communities and screen them in the country, aiming to increase awareness and advocate for human rights for the most marginalized communities. The event is also a rare chance to showcase positive stories from South Sudan. 

Learn more about the Juba Film Festival.

Sheffield DocFest is the UK’s leading documentary festival and one of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects. They champion and present the breadth of documentary form – film, television, immersive and art – in the vibrant city of Sheffield each June. Sheffield DocFest offers makers and audiences a place for inspiration, debate, development, learning and challenge. Their programming represents their core values – creativity, empathy, freedom, inclusivity and internationalism.

Learn more about the Sheffield DocFest.

Launched in 2010, amaBhungane (isiZulu for “the dung beetles”) Centre for Investigative Journalism is an independent, non-profit newsroom based in South Africa. They develop investigative journalism to promote free, capable media and open, accountable, just democracy.

Find out more about amaBhunghane Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Declassified UK uncovers the UK’s role in the world, investigating Britain’s military and intelligence agencies, its most powerful corporations and its impact on human rights and the environment.

Learn more about Declassified UK.

Democracy Now! produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Their reporting includes breaking daily news headlines and in-depth interviews with people on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues, providing a unique and sometimes provocative perspective on global events.

Learn more about Democracy Now! 

GroundUp publishes news that matters – reporting human rights stories across South Africa. Started in April 2012 as a joint project of Community Media Trust and the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Social Science Research, in 2020 GroundUp became a standalone non-profit news agency.

Learn more about GroundUp.

The Real News Network (TRNN) makes media to connect audiences to the movements, people and perspectives that are advancing the cause of a more just, equal and livable planet. With a responsibility to serve the majority-minority population of Baltimore, TRNN aims to enhance audience understanding of the issues, contexts and voices behind news headlines. 

Learn more about the Real News Network.