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Social Impact Media Awards is an annual media competition run by a non-profit impact media agency SIMA Studios. SIMA Studios curates and distributes documentaries and creative media projects.
SIMA was founded by Daniela Kon Lieberberg in 2012, pioneering an annual global awards program for non-fiction storytelling focused on social, humanitarian, and human rights issues. The Social Impact Media Awards/ SIMA Awards honor documentaries (features and shorts), impact videos, XR projects and production companies that exemplify excellence in their potential to inspire social change. Each year, projects are selected from over 140 countries around the world, competing for awards, cash prizes, media features, and entry into SIMAs global distribution channels. [1]
SIMAs distribution channels comprise the educational streaming platform SIMA Academy and the international community screening series, SIMA Traveling Series, that amplify the impact and exposure of the films from their annual awards. Through partnerships and collaborations with international organizations, educational institutions, and change-makers, SIMA brings social impact storytelling into communities and classrooms in over 100 countries. [2]
In 2018, SIMA Studios launched its Fiscal Sponsorship program to support international media projects that inspire social change. [3]
SIMA Awards started as an international media competition honoring achievements in the creative, human rights, and humanitarian fields. [4] Its mission consists of promoting and exhibiting the work of independent filmmakers, activists, and change-makers that may otherwise have been overlooked. [5]
The awards are hosted online. Films are selected for the following categories: Documentary Features, Documentary Shorts, Virtual Reality/360 Video/Extended Reality/AI, and Impact Videos. [6] Additional jury prizes are awarded to projects that reflect a core principle of SIMA's mission. The annual jury prizes included: Ethos, Stylistic Achievement, Lens to Action, and Transparency. [7]
The SIMA Traveling Series is a year-round community screening program which makes SIMA Studios' catalogue of films available to grassroots activists, organizations and festivals across 26 countries.
Every year, SIMA Studios selects SIMA Award-winning films to join its screening collection. SIMA screening events have been co-hosted by Human Rights Watch, [8] Impact Hub (Global Network), [9] Bay Street Film Festival, [10] Skirball Cultural Center [11] and UN Women. [12]
SIMA Academy (formerly known as SIMA Classroom) is a streaming platform powered by Vimeo OTT for educators and students. The platform includes lesson plans, playlists, and teaching aids. [13] It is currently[ when? ] in use by 4,660 teachers and 117,420 students. [14] The program has collaborated with the Skirball Cultural Center and UNESCO-APCEIU to screen films for students and educators. [15] [16] SIMA Academy won a 2024 Anthem Award for "Education, Art, & Culture: Literacy Platform". [17] SIMA Academy also won the EdTech Award in 2023 [18] and 2020 [19] for "Cool Tool: Content Provider Solution".
SIMA Studios has a Fiscal Sponsorship program that enables creative impact projects to raise tax-deductible funds in the US, in all stages of development, production, post-production, distribution, outreach and impact campaigns. [20] As of 2024, SIMA represents over 50 projects. [21]
The Academy Awards of Merit, commonly known as the Oscars or Academy Awards, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the film industry. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States, in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry.
The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.
Participant Media, LLC was an American independent film and television production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as digital entertainment through its subsidiary SoulPancake, which the company acquired in 2016.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
SFFILM, formerly known as The San Francisco Film Society, is a nonprofit arts organization located in San Francisco, California, that presents year-round programs and events in film exhibition, media education, and filmmaker services.
Visual Communications –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were students of EthnoCommunications, an alternative film school at University of California, Los Angeles. The mission of VC is to "promote intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans."
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events.
DokuFest is an international documentary and short film festival held in the Kosovo city of Prizren, held annually during early August. It was founded in 2002 by a group of friends. It has since grown into a cultural event that attracts international and regional artists and audiences. Films are screened throughout the eight-day festival and accompanied by programs, activities, and workshops.
Craig Barron is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a media company that produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms.
The Canadian Screen Awards are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media productions. Given annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the awards recognize excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, known as MFDF Ji.hlava or Ji.hlava IDFF, is a documentary film festival in Jihlava, Czech Republic, normally held in late October. The 28th edition of the festival will run from 25 October to 3 November 2024.
Condé Nast Entertainment is a production and distribution studio with film, television, social and online video, and virtual reality content.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment is a Canadian multinational media company based in Toronto, Ontario and founded by Leonard Asper.
The Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is an international film festival which takes place annually in York, England, at the beginning of November. Founded in 2011, it is a celebration of independent film from around the world, and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking.
Kristopher Bowers is an American composer, pianist and documentary director. He has composed scores for films, including Green Book, King Richard, and The Color Purple, and television series, among them Bridgerton, Mrs. America, Dear White People, and When They See Us.
Elissa Blount Moorhead is a Baltimore-based producer, artist, writer, curator and lecturer. She is an advocate for social change through her interdisciplinary work in visual art, music, design, and film. She has produced public art events, gallery exhibitions, films screenings, and education programs since the early 90s.
The Pravo Ljudski Film Festival is an annual human rights documentary film festival held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name translates to Totally Human. It was established in 2006 with the goal of promoting socially engaged non-fictional audiovisual projects, dedicated to the development of critical spectatorship through socially engaged documentaries and independent art cinema. It is held for two weeks in November. The festival has developed an independent non-profit civic association under the same name. It is the largest festival of its kind in Southeastern Europe.
Alex Sangha is a Canadian social worker and documentary film producer. He is the founder of Sher Vancouver which is a registered charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) South Asians and their friends. Sangha was the first Sikh to become a Grand Marshal of the Vancouver Pride Parade. Sangha received the Meritorious Service Medal from Governor General Julie Payette in 2018 for his work founding Sher Vancouver. Sangha's first short documentary film, My Name Was January, won 14 awards and garnered 66 official selections at film festivals around the world. Sangha's debut feature documentary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows, was an official selection at Out on Film in Atlanta, Image+Nation in Montreal, and Reelworld in Toronto. The film was the closing night film at both the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival where it picked up Best Documentary. Emergence: Out of the Shadows also had a double festival premiere at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and the Mumbai International Film Festival during the same week, where it was in competition at both film festivals for Best Documentary. The film also had an in-person and online screening at the 46th annual Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival which is "the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBTQ+ film exhibition event in the world."
The 9thannualCanadian Screen Awards were held in the week of May 17 to 20, 2021, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020.
Napoli Eden is a 2020 documentary film about the artist Annalaura di Luggo directed by Bruno Colella, produced by Annydi Productions with music by Eugenio Bennato and photography by Blasco Giurato. The creative consultant is Stanley Isaacs and the marketing consultant is Greg Ferris.