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:

Congratulations to the SIMA 2021 Finalists! 40 stories from 20 countries have advanced as finalists in the 9th Annual Social Impact Media Awards. From hospital walls to voting booths; from the streets to the senate; from Chechnya to Sierra Leone; this year’s SIMA Finalists give us incredible—one-of-a-kind—x-ray vision into the state of our contemporary world. Winners will be announced February 10, 2021.  

SIMA Classroom: 

SIMA Classroom is a global, ever-current and expansive streaming platform presenting the gold standard of social-issue cinematic storytelling In times where we are walking from the New Normal to a New Future, we have developed new projects with old friends and new partners to scale our impact. 

Invited by George Washington University, we hosted a virtual workshop for arabic educators at the Institute of Middle East Studies, to advance impact media literacy and the significance of documentary film in 21st century global education. 

We proudly joined Planet Classroom, a network platform organized by CMRubinWorld bringing together musicians, dancers, video games creators, filmmakers, learning innovators and emerging technologists from all over the world to entertain, educate and engage youth. 

Thanks to Qatar Foundation International's continued support, SIMA Student Film Club ended 2020 with an extraordinary line-up on Sustainability followed by a virtual exchange with the Arabic Honor Society students and filmmaker Aaron Kisner and business entrepreneur Manal Yaish Zraiq.

SIMAx & SIMA RAMA Virtual Cinema

Local leaders around the globe keep screening SIMA impact films on our newly launched Virtual Cinema platform SIMA RAMA to activate their communities around issues that matter. Our most recent virtual screening partners included Human Rights Watch LA, Another Way, The 49%,  and QS Word Merit. By attending single screenings + discussion panel events or entire film festivals with community engagement opportunities our virtual audiences rallied in support of , racial justice, the empowerment of girls and women and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, reaching over 2,500 viewers per month. 

SIMA Staff Pick

Through our Staff Pick we make one award-winning SIMA film available for free online each month. In October we virtually screened Juanita, a glimpse into the everyday life of a Mayan traditional doctor, midwife, nurse and activist. In September we virtually screened Tell Spring Not To Come This Year where audiences witnessed the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of Afghans who live it. Finally, we close 2020 screening Out Of The Darkness, a story of two doctors restoring sight to the needlessly blind. In January 2021, we offer a global screening of Rio Eu Amo Eu Cuido Migration, a local story about making a beloved city a better place to live. Collectively over 4,000 audience members across the globe tuned into these virtual events. 

SIMA's Fiscal Sponsorship:

Supporting projects at the intersection of creativity and social impact we have added 3 new projects to our growing Fiscal Sponsorship Community: Redefining What's Possible - a three part film series that supports filmmakers belonging to marginalized communities; Mentorship Matters - a one-year intensive mentoring program for emerging TV writers of color- and Walker Entertainer Academy - a short film production and marketing company aimed at ethnic, under served artists. Overall SIMA fiscal sponsorship projects have raised over $522,000 to bring these projects to life. 

Thank you so much for giving us wings and for enabling us to maximize the impact of our programs.

With warmth and gratitude from all of us at SIMA.