The Global Health Film initiative held its first festival last month to use film and media as a catalyst for discussion and change on global health issues. The festival included film production workshops, in-depth panel discussions and pitching opportunities.

The inaugural event was held in London this year on Oct. 30-31. The festival – Films to Inspire Change, began a new era of global health discussion, incorporating art and expression into the previously science-only forum.

According to the Global Health Film initiative, workshops at the festival included:

• Film for social change in low-resource settings ( by Medical Aid Films)
• Guerrilla filmmaking and global health (by What Took You So Long?)
• Crowdfunding for global health film (by Dartmouth Films)
• Impact of global health film (by BRITDOC Foundation)
• Innovation at grass roots: filmmaking in low resource settings (by BBC Media Action)
• Media training for health advocate (by Rockhopper TV)

One of the films featured at the festival, “Body Team 12,” follows the first female member of the Ebola response teams in Liberia. Another, “Fire in the Blood,” documents the battle to make AIDS drugs cheap enough for poor countries to afford them (Sci Dev Net). “TB Unmasked” and “TB Silent Killer” cover tuberculosis, while “Outbreak” exposes the “hidden” beginning of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

In order to facilitate discussions such as those sparked at the festival, the Global Health Film initiative also developed two labs this year to support global health advocates and produce films that highlight critical global health issues. The Global Health Film Lab houses nine fellows and gives them the training and tools they need to produce their own change-inspiring films.

The initiative also holds screenings for new films that present new ideas in the global health field. Past screenings include “Girl Rising,” which promotes the education of girls in developing countries, and “Open Heart,” which tells the story of Rwandan children with rheumatic heart disease.

These films continue to raise awareness and present otherwise widely-ignored information in a way that evokes an emotional response.

– Ashley Tressel

Sources: SciDev, Global Health Film 1, Global Health Film 2
Photo: Pixabay