The Unquiet Collective will offer their impact producing model as well as a new tool kit to help others bridge the gap between a film’s distribution, and its wider social impact, while continuing to impact produce select projects.
The group were motivated to form the Unquiet Collective after working together on the game-changing impact campaign for the 2019 documentary In My Blood it Runs (2019) and the Netflix original documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone in 2022.
Many people have heard of impact producing, but few understand the processes and strategies behind developing impact campaigns. As members of the Global Impact Producers Assembly and with experience across many projects, the Unquiet Collective want to change that.
With an experienced pool of diverse talent, including a Churchill Fellowship for Impact Producing, they are strongly committed to finding the right audiences for their work, founded on the strong belief that films can inspire action but only people and social movements can create lasting change.
“We know storytelling and films can light up our hearts and imaginations. We know films can move us deeply. We want to get the right audiences to watch films and channel their energies towards real world change.” Alex Kelly, Unquiet Collective
Working closely together on In My Blood it Runs since 2016 to ensure the film and release was led by those who appear on screen, the film and its myriad of impact successes motivated a desire to continue to collaborate. Those successes included an impressive $800k in non-theatrical and theatrical box office, even during Covid19, screenings in more than 3000 classrooms across Australia and an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council by the film’s young star Dujuan, calling on the Australian Government to treat kids like him better.
For The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, the group set impact goals of using the film to help tackle transphobia and amplify the voices of trans people. Alongside the worldwide Netflix release which racked up more than 500k views in the first few days, and a reach of over 200 million people through media coverage, the film was screened at Parliament House as well as at key health services including the Royal Children’s Hospital. A team of gender diverse young people created Dreamlife, a ‘zine’ about their “dreamlives” which launched at World Pride and was offered for free to other gender diverse youth.
Key film Impact campaigns delivered by members of the group prior to the collective include: This Changes Everything (2015), Gayby Baby (2015), After The Apology (2017) and 52 Tuesdays (2013). They also consulted on the making and release of Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (2022) starring Emma Thompson.
The group’s hands-on role as impact producers, in addition to their roles as makers and creators, ensures they work closely across all stages of the creative content, from early development through to release, using expanded models of distribution including: impact producing, distribution strategy, media strategy, partnership development, collaborative filmmaking and more.
“Filmmakers – especially independent doco makers – are often exhausted at the end of making their films and it’s daunting to start the work of releasing the film and realising what a huge job it is. We hope our toolkit can ease some of this pressure and ensure films can reach audiences and be part of the urgent conversations for justice and change.” Maya Newell
In addition to individual project consultation, the Unquiet Collective draw on their own expertise to offer guidance on impact producing via:
- The regular event Unquiet 90, a 90-minute open ask-me-anything style zoom call tailored for small groups of participants who are filmmakers, artists, writers and podcasters.
- An extensive new Impact Toolkit for filmmakers to be freely shared via the new website. Containing an invaluable selection of documents they have used, from non-theatrical screening agreements to an impact producer position description, to press kits, it is designed to empower and guide others on the same path.
- Members of the Unquiet Collective are available for workshops, keynotes and masterclasses. In recent years members have held workshops across Australia and at Sundance Film Festival, CPH DOX Denmark, IDFA and Hot Docs.
“Impact work joins together filmmakers and social movements so that the stories reach more audiences and in a richer, deeper way. This work uplifts the film industry by creating meaningful connections between films and audience and reframing film as a relevant part of the cultural conversation, not simply entertainment or business.
We know from past experience that we can connect quality films and filmmakers with the social movements and people that can create real change – the audience. We are so excited to share what we have learnt with others as well as continuing to push ourselves on the release of our own projects.” Sophie Hyde
The next Unquiet 90 event – which serves as the launch of the toolkit – is Tuesday August 8, 2023 12pm AET (UTC/GMT +10 hours)
The Unquiet Collective Impact Toolkit was supported by the Churchill Fellowship Impact Funding Program of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
