The impact of documentaries on people, communities and public policy has made the headlines recently due to the effect Blackfish had on SeaWorld. Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Blackfish tells the story of a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. The film explores the species’ cruel treatment at theme parks including SeaWorld. The negative publicity from Blackfish caused attendance to fall at SeaWorld, whose shares fell 33%.
Stung by criticism of its treatment of killer whales, SeaWorld said in August 2014 that it will build new, larger environments at its theme parks and will fund additional research on the animals along with programs to protect ocean health and whales in the wild.
Can documentaries like Blackfish affect social change? In 2013, the Inspirit Foundation commissioned a report to explore this question. The Canadian Impact Media Research Report provides insights on models grantmakers can use to leverage documentaries as a tool for social change. The report also addresses the estimated return on investment for documentaries that have a positive impact on individuals and/or affect systemic change.
For more information on the report or on Inspirit’s work related to documentaries, please contact Bandana Singh at bsingh@inspiritfoundation.org.
