Art has the power to bring awareness where once there was none. The power to bring to light injustice. The power to re-write wrongs. A powerful narrative and haunting imagery can be all it takes to inspire historic change. Canada’s Social Impact Film and Art Festival (SIFA Festival) seeks to highlight and recognize the creative work of artists, filmmakers, photographers, not-for-profit organizations, and others to create awareness of social issues around the world. The annual festival will draw special attention to creators who have made a positive impact in their community and on worldwide social issues.
“This is a very challenging and potentially transformative time in our society,” says Thi Be Nguyen, founder of the SIFA Festival and UniAction. “While society has always used art as a means of commenting on social injustice or on wrongdoings, this is really the golden age of documentary filmmaking. We’ve seen a number of documentaries go viral, something that has never happened before. The changes that have happened as a result of that are inspirational. It’s one of the reasons why we created the SIFA Festival, a unique platform in Canada entirely dedicated to film and art productions related to social issues and their impact on society around the world. We want to highlight and draw attention to film and art that is making a difference.”
International filmmakers, producers, artists, musicians, photographers, students, and not-for-profit organizations who have created projects which have had a social impact are invited to submit their work for consideration to the Social Impact Film and Art Festival Awards. Winners are awarded prizes in 12 categories including best feature, best series, best animation, best short, best publicity, best student film, best female-produced film, best first-nations film, best retro film production, best social impact project in the categories of photography, music, art, show and other forms of art. The first Social Impact World Influencer Award in the creative industries will also be handed out in 2021.
Prizes for category winners include a social impact award, cash reward, the announcement of the winners in a Canadian national newspaper, the projection of the film or showcase of the project at the SIFA Festival in 2021, an invitation to attend the SIFA Festival Red Carpet Gala and Award Ceremony in 2021 and the royalties for their film from on-demand views.
“We are looking forward to seeing the submissions from artist, creators and not-for-profits around the world,” explains Sean St-John, co-founder of the SIFA Festival. “We want the SIFA Festival to act as a stage for these impactful projects and to give voice to the important work being done around the world to positively change society.”
The Social Impact Film and Art Festival is pleased to have the support of its first Ambassadors Circle:
- Daniel Asselin, president at Episode
- Gary Brennan, Canadian actor and founder of Between the Words
- Michael Goodman, head of acquisition, Eastern Canada at WELL Health Technologies Corp.
- Diane Juster, founding president of the SPACQ
- Amina Kalache Lammali, project manager at UniAction
- Brigitte Leblanc, associate vice-president in creative industries at National Bank of Canada
- Serguei Mokhov, co-founder of Canada-China International Film Festival
- Ibrahima Niang, director of strategic partnerships at African Professional Network
- Khuyen Nguyen, founder of Vietnam Filming Fixer
- Teri Wong, agency producer in Singapore
For more information on becoming an Ambassador or on the Social Impact Film and Art Festival, please visit www.sifafestival.com.
