NNIMMO BASSEY is an award-winning African climate activist and poet: we want to make a film about his work and how it connects with austerity, refugees and our wider realities. Please spread the word about our crowdfunding campaign, or donate yourself if you can:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nnimmo-bassey-award-winning-climate-activist .
This film will be more than a film about a strong and critically important activist – which is worthwhile in itself. It will also connect Nnimmo’s work with immediate headline issues concerning many of us – austerity and refugees – and so will join some of the dots which many environmental films do not.
CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN – UPDATE ON 7th OCTOBER:
We have just raised about £500 – enough for Nnimmo to work with a filmmaker and get some basic interview filming done which will be integrated into the transmedia performance Continent Chop Chop. Thanks to all who donated! You have already made something worthwhile happen.
We now need to try and reach £1000 to create an effective montage-style film. If we can do that soon, then in the rest of the final ten days the campaign could gain pace to reach the next targets: £1500 will get us broadcast quality footage, £2000 will increase the range of material that will be filmed, and £3000 will edit all of this with a strong and compelling narrative to really engage people effectively.
Campaigns like this normally gather pace as they get towards the end – it would be wonderful if you are able to help us get there. Please share this widely if you can, or maybe donate yourself if you haven’t already.
Please take a look at our fundraising campaign at: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nnimmo-bassey-award-winning-climate-activist
Who is Nnimmo Bassey?
He is a leading environmental activist who has won a number of awards and has played leading roles in Friends Of The Earth International and Oilwatch Africa/International – the global south network opposed to the expansion of fossil fuels extraction. He is also a published poet and author, strongly interested in creative expression of contemporary issues, and a leading voice from an under-represented continent. Here he is talking at Klimaforum 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=wkXt8ppjstc
“Sacred land
Your defenders
Link hands across generation gaps
Kids, ancestors, butterflies merge
confronting the rage of crude addicts”
– from Nnimmo’s poetry collection
‘I Will Not Dance to Your Beat‘
Why do we need a film?
Nnimmo has not yet created his own film though his speeches and interviews have been filmed, yet he is one of the key figures in African environmentalism right now. He is supporting our work to create a short film for online dissemination, educational work and local climate activists to use, and also that we can present as a part of our touring multimedia performance. This film will be more than a film about a strong and critically important activist – which is worthwhile in itself. It will also connect Nnimmo’s work with immediate headline issues concerning many of us – austerity and refugees – and so will join some of the dots which many environmental films do not.
What kind of film will it be?
Nnimmo Bassey will co-direct his input working with his chosen film-maker in Nigeria. This will in part reflect his perspectives and experiences and will include his own poetry. He will respond to the performance teams’ themes of austerity and migration which have high profile in Europe and the West. Edited clips from this will be used in our upcoming performance tour ‘Continent Chop Chop’, and at a later date will be edited together with adapted sections of the performance to create the final film – a creative and artistically rendered documentary which remains accessible and carries a strong message.
What difference will this make?
Oil and mining companies have wreaked havoc on the African continent by way of land and water grabs, extreme pollution and other abuses against Mother Earth. Nnimmo will bring out the urgency of these realities through this medium. This film will:
- raise the issues as presented by a respected and a trusted activist voice
- strengthen our touring performance by creating a key and central multimedia component that gives audiences a vivid connection to the issues
- strengthen the work by Nnimmo and other activists being done across Africa and globally – that is urgent and needed right now
- pilot the possibility of a strong full-length film production as a follow up
Please take a look at our crowdfunding campaign at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nnimmo-bassey-award-winning-climate-activist
