Five summers ago, I arrived in the Wilmington firehouse for my first day of work as a summer intern at Working Films. Three days later, I got appendicitis and was rushed into surgery. And one week ago, I watched Good Fortune, a feature documentary I produced and edited, air on POV on PBS. All of these events feel connected to me, I’m just not sure how exactly.

Perhaps it’s the surreal feeling to it all—arriving to work the first day confused to find a firehouse in place of a standard office building, being rapidly wheeled across the ER by a bunch of strange nurses with strong Carolinian accents, and watching, after five years of blood, sweat, and tears, your film beam out to millions of people.

I worked with director Landon Van Soest to tell the stories of Jackson and Silva, two Kenyans whose lives are being destroyed by massive, international development projects. We followed them as they, along with their friends and neighbors, banned together to fight back to protect their community. It was empowering to see their fight, and we felt their stories served as a cautionary tale against imposing aid on a community. So it was an amazing feeling to know that their stories were being watched across the country last Tuesday.

But POV was involved in more than the broadcast. They worked with us to develop discussion guides, community screenings, and an interactive and ridiculously in-depth website. The site features updates on the film, videos exploring positive alternatives to development (made possible by our friends at the Fledgling Fund), an interactive map showcasing similar examples around the world, and more information about foreign aid and Kenya. But perhaps the feature I’m most excited about are the responses to the film by development experts. My favorite was from Erica Hagen of Map Kibera, who showed the film to a group of youths in Kibera. She describes their response this way: “They said ‘This is the truth. This is what it is like to live in Kibera. This is the kind of thing that happens to us. Someone comes by and marks our house with a red X, or cuts our power line, or tells us a new scheme has just been passed and it’s time for us to fall in line.’”

This was the most gratifying thing we could have read as filmmakers. We are continuing our work with the film and hope to bring it back to the communities in East Africa. We are also finishing a companion film, The Captain, about a polygamous family on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria that a presents holistic view of modern poverty by exploring the family’s relationship with the poverty, health, and environmental conservation.

And we hope the POV broadcast and our campaign beyond will help advocate for a rethinking of aid and development. Change needs to come from the grassroots; when it is imposed on a community, things often don’t turn out as they are planned.

Sophie Gore Browne from Chicken & Egg pictures joins us as a guest blogger

Chicken & Egg Pictures in partnership with Working Films hosted another STORY LEADS TO ACTION at 92YTribeca, with a screening of the documentary Good Fortune by filmmakers Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine.

Set in Kenya, the documentary vividly calls into question the positive impact of international development organizations, from the housing reconstruction efforts of the UN in the slums of Kibera to a private agri-business in the swamp lands of Yala. The film raises issues about dead aid, and the politics of international development which often excludes the involvement of the very people these organizations are trying to help.

The film has had a successful year on the festival circuit along with a notable P.O.V. broadcast, but the aim of the night was to put heads together with NY guest educators to hash out how this film could really make a difference where it is most needed; among students learning international development, aid organizations, the donor community, inter-governmental organizations like the UN/World Bank/IMF that promote foreign investment in developing countries.

From left to right: Landon Van Soest, Jeremy Levine, Eliza Licht, David Gerwin, Dr. Mojúbàobolú Olúfúnké Okome

Dr. Mojúbàobolú Olúfúnké Okome, Professor of Political Science; Eliza Licht, Director, Community Engagement and Education, P.O.V.; and David Gerwin, Associate Professor, Coordinator, Program in Social Studies, all provided varied personal insight on the content of the film and the purpose to which it could be most effectively used.

P.O.V. came away with ideas for compiling an education packet to be distributed with the film to various education institutions and both Professors spoke about how the film could be used in the class room. Beyond the guest speakers contributions to the conversation, filmmakers in the audience shared their views and ideas about ways to take this film beyond the film circuit.

Audience members where encouraged to write their questions and ideas down, whilst the conversation was taking place, for the filmmakers to take home and transform into practical audience engagement strategies.

Here are some of audience members’ suggestions:
•    Show the film to large foundations to encourage them to support projects with local involvement.
•    Include more statistics for the educational version.
•    Give updates on what is happening with the stories now.
•    Provide more info on different approaches to development like microlending.
•    We also got lots of great suggestions for organizations to highlight for our educational guide and venues to screen the film.

Thanks to all!