How can stories drive change? Stories hold powerful transformative potential — they can influence us, evoke emotions, and shift perspectives. Michelle explains why, when creating stories for impact campaigns, it’s crucial to be intentional about the change you hope to spark.
What is Impact? Concept, Strategy, Campaigns
What you'll learn in this module
What an impact campaign is and how it can be used to engage audiences and drive social change
How to identify tangible goals, set clear priorities, target the right audiences, and secure strategic partners for your impact campaign
What an impact producer does and their key responsibilities
How to understand the social, political, media, and academic context of your impact campaign, and identify and track key players
About the expert
Michelle Plascencia (Mexico)
Michelle is a cultural organizer and impact strategist from Mexico City. She co-founded Impacta Cine, Mexico’s first film and social impact collective, and serves as Partnerships & Programs Director at GIPA — Global Impact Producers Alliance.
An impact campaign is a strategic approach to distribution. In this video, you’ll learn why clarity of purpose matters, and how partnerships with like-minded allies can turn a campaign into a real tool for change.
Let’s dive deeper into crafting an impact strategy. How can you keep your ultimate goals in sight without straying from your core priorities? How do you accurately map the issue while considering the context that shapes your impact campaign? And what does the impact producer’s role involve?
In this video, Michelle explores the kinds of change films can drive through four powerful examples from Latin America — Lejos del Sentido (2018), Volverte a ver (2021), Ahora que estamos juntos (2022), and Los niños (2016). She examines what their creators set out to achieve, how those intentions translated on screen, and which elements helped shift viewers’ perspectives.
Work on your project
If you’re actively building your impact campaign, use the Course Journal to turn ideas from this module into concrete steps.
Explore Further
Impacta Cine — The first film and social impact collective in Mexico aimed at working with filmmakers to design and implement impact campaigns
GIPA — Global Impact Producers Alliance, a community-led network to support and uplift impact practitioners around the globe
The Impact Field Guide — A collection of ideas, tools, and examples intended to support filmmakers and their films to contribute to positive change in society
Doc Society — An innovative non-profit working with the boldest and the most inspiring filmmakers all over the world
Impact 101 for filmmakers: Introduction to the field of Impact Producing for documentaries — An additional lecture by Michelle Plascencia, created with GIPA
Presentation Slides
Download the slides from this module to review the key insights anytime.
All images, film clips, posters, and stills are used for non-commercial educational purposes only and are included solely for critical commentary and teaching. All copyrights in the underlying films and promotional materials belong to their respective rights holders.
