Ignite Lasting Change with Community Film Events

Thank you once again for your continued support of SIMA! We’re excited to share our most recent updates from each of our programs with you.

SIMA Awards:

We have officially closed our call for entries to SIMA 2020! We are thrilled to have social impact features, shorts, and virtual reality experiences submissions from over 100 countries! The SIMA 2020 Winners will be announced in February. Stay tuned!

SIMA Classroom:

Designed as a fast track to global citizenship education, the online streaming platform takes students on a journey from empathy and critical thinking to action. Over 1,912 educators, 49,510 students and 264 institutions globally are already using the platform.

Selected from the finalists and winners of the annual Social Impact Media Awards, SIMA Classroom is a global, ever-current and expansive streaming service presenting the gold standard of social-issue cinematic storytelling. It provides access to a carefully curated collection of over 168 award-winning short documentaries and Virtual Reality films with learning resources and participatory skill-building lessons.

In order to keep scaling the scope and depth of our impact, we created new partnerships with educational platforms such as World Savvy, AFT ShareMyLesson, and SDSN Global School Program--we are proud to welcome them to the SIMA family! We are also thrilled to announce our pilot program with Teach for India, a movement of fellows working to eliminate educational inequity in India. Together we have reached over 4,000 students across the country.

Last but not least, SIMA was honored to host the workshop The Role Of Effective Digital Learning In GCED For Reconciliation during The 4th International Conference on Global Citizenship Education organized by UNESCO-APCEIU in Seoul this past September. The event gathered 600+ social innovators in education from around the globe.

SIMAx:

Together with World Merit, the second edition of our SDG Challenge reached an audience of over 1,130 people! Local leaders hosted screenings across the globe from Bangladesh to Thailand, South Africa to the UK, Malawai to Ghana, Burundi to Morocco (and more!) to inspire their communities to take action using the power of documentaries addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SIMA's Fiscal Sponsorship:

Supporting projects at the intersection of creativity and social impact we have added new projects to our Fiscal Sponsorship Program including Kusunda - an interactive VR experience that immerses you in the world of the last speaker and guardian of an indigenous language-; Project Shine - the story of six diverse young men that hit rock bottom and turn to the “Conscious Outlaw” to find their inner strength to get their lives back on track-, and The Broken Key - a young gifted classical pianist and a passionate drug-dealing rapper both on the verge of life-changing success and escape from the harsh, violent realities of the inner city find hope and inspiration in each other.

SIMA Staff Pick:

We are giving audiences a barrier-free entry to experiencing social impact cinema.

For November we are featuring Tell Spring Not To Come This Year, directed by Saeed Taji Farouky & Michael McEvoy and produced by Michael McEvoy, Saeed Taji Farouky, & Elizabeth C Jones. This intimate and humanist film explores a largely unheard and misrepresented perspective, revealing the deep personal motivations, desires, and struggles of a band of fighting men on the front line.

This month we are also highlighting the incredible work of Afghan Youth for Peace, a social and nonprofit organization of Afghan young people who equips exceptional youth and educators with the skills and relationships they need to accelerate social, economic, and political changes essential for peace.

As always, thank you for your invaluable contributions to helping us scale social impact through visual storytelling worldwide.

With warmth and gratitude from the SIMA Team.