Moving pictures at the workplace

There are so many environmental films out there which do not get an audience; these are films that do not play to any galleries but highlight issues requiring urgent attention. The other challenge is funding for such films; these are usually made by film-makers for whom the cause is all all-important. This is where companies can step in make a difference.

Internationally renowned environmental film maker and winner of many a Green Oscar Mike Pandey highlighted the disappearance of 99 percent of all vultures in India. The result was not only a loss of this species, facing extinction now, but also the diseases and stench spreading in the countryside as dead animals rot. These would normally have been consumed by the vultures, nature’s scavengers. And this situation had arisen due to a certain medicine being administered to farm animals by vets, a medicine that started killing vultures when they consumed these same animals after they died.

A powerful and moving film indeed, something everyone should see. Unfortunately, these thought provoking films rarely get audiences as they face a challenge of distribution. Television channels either do not run them or, if they do, there is no guarantee of attracting enough eyeballs.

Screening at the workplace
Organizations would do well to screen such films in their workplaces. There are many ways to do this including:

• Television screens that are sometimes installed in offices.
• Create a kind of a You Tube on the intranet so staff can watch these on their desks itself.
• Collective Screening: Call staff in groups to a common room, and screen for them. No doubt people watching in a group would be impacted more as they would have a chance to discuss the same with one another, then and later too.
• Distribute discs: Get multiple copies of such films on suitable discs and distribute them amongst staff. Go a step further. Start giving these to customers who make a certain minimum purchase from you. Why give a free soap with a shampoo? Give a film.

Don’t just watch, act too
While watching a film may make an impact, not much changes as people do not know what to do about it. If the vultures are dying due to a certain medicine, how can you and I get the medicine killing them banned?

Get the filmmaker involved. Ask him to add a message at the end telling viewers what to do. It could be something as simple as sending a petition to the health and environment ministries. The film maker must ensure the contact details and person are given; you and I will not know where to start hunting for this information.

Better still, invite the film maker to talk to your staff. It would be potent cocktail – the film followed by an interactive with the director. The issues and necessary action would be understood much more clearly than otherwise. Of course, this can only be a limited option at best as it would require time commitment from both side, not always possible.

Pay a royalty; it would be money well spent
Social and environmental film makers all over the world are, generally speaking, a much troubled lot on the financial front. What keeps them going, more than anything else, is their commitment to the cause. But for these film makers who tirelessly work in highlighting issues of concern for all of us, the world would already have been a poorer place.

It is only a select few who get production contracts from the likes of the BBC, Discovery and National Geographic. (Unfortunately, these ‘elite’ directors also get paid disproportionately by these channels; many independent film makers make similar films for much less). There can be an occasional grant, or some other channel buying the rights. But there is rarely a consistent source of income.

But if you know such film makers, you will know they stake all they have to continuously make their films. Without any committed buyers in sight. This is where corporate support comes in.

Whenever films of such directors are screened, pay a small royalty. Even as low as the equivalent of 50 or 100 dollars. A world class film by Mike Pandey can be made for, say, $30,000. If 300 companies pay $100 each as royalty, the film pays for itself. The company won’t even miss the money and will look good at a small cost, the staff would go back educated in a unique way and the likes of Mike Pandey can continue the good work of trying to save not only the vultures but ridley turtles, whales and all other endangered species on the planet.

Start a film club
Here is an idea for someone to take forward: Start a film club where corporate subscribers get a certain number of socially and environmentally relevant films to screen every month for a fixed fee. This money, after paying for expenses, can be distributed amongst those whose films have been sent. It can be a low cost exercise as multiple films can be sent on a single DVD saving on reproduction and delivery costs.