Having started as an assignment to garner publicity for its screenings at festivals such as the London Short Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana and the International Changing Perspectives Short Film Festival in Istanbul, Turkey - I worked with the filmmakers of the short documentary Kofi and Lartey to raise the awareness and impact of their film, ultimately achieving a What We’re Watching mention in The Guardian’s Global Dispatch.
Directed by Sasha Rainbow, the film tells the story of two inseparable young boys, Kofi and Lartey, who work on the electronic waste dump of Agbogbloshie, Ghana, dubbed one of the most toxic places on earth. When given the tools (cameras!) to tell their own stories, they begin to dream of a life beyond the electronic waste dump and back into education.
The filmmakers were in need of strategic guidance on how to move their social impact plans forward and I worked with them to develop a presentation pack for academics, influencers and potential partners - as well as creating outreach materials and devising the concept of taking 20 little known facts about Agbogbloshie and turning them into relevant social media posts.
I liaised with an American art gallery preparing to launch a climate change photo exhibit to screen the film as part of the exhibition and that led to a subsequent screening at the Southwest Environmental Center in New Mexico. Finally, on behalf of the film, I reached out to the UK’s leading academics in the field of electronic waste management at Universities in Cambridge, Northampton and Lancaster, initiating a dialogue for future engagement with the film and collaboration.