Kenyan children using Flip Video Camera CC BY 2.0
Video is uniquely suited for conveying complex issues through a human lens.
EqualShot played a major role in producing and marketing the following documentaries and educational videos. We hope they will inspire you in your own thinking about the use of video and multimedia:
Breaths of Life
EqualShot wrote, directed and produced this 9-minute fundraising video about the work of Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization. The video features Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt and includes visually striking images by Sebastião Salgado, Yves Gellie, and many other award-winning documentary photographers.
Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
Every minute of every day, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth. And each year, 10.5 million children die from largely preventable causes. A coalition of organizations including Family Care International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization called upon EqualShot to create this 4-minute video calling for increased political commitment and investment in high-quality health care to combat this pervasive global problem.
Silence and Complicity:
Violence Against Women in Peru's Public Health Facilities
Revealing widespread sexual abuse by doctors against women patients in Peru, this 20-minute documentary, co-produced by EqualShot principal Barbara Becker and narrated by actress Rita Moreno, was submitted as evidence in a successful case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The video was instrumental in forcing a major overhaul of the health and judiciary systems in Peru. The Center for Reproductive Rights won the prestigious Council on Foundations video award for using this video to effect social change.
Speak EC:
What Every Woman Needs to Know About Emergency Contraception
Endorsed by the Feminist Majority, EqualShot's 11-minute educational video introduces the largely unknown topic of emergency contraception to young women across the US. Through an extensive marketing and outreach program, the piece has received overwhelming response and is now used at over 350 college campuses and health clinics across the country, as well as by legislators and community activists.
Credit: An Agent of Change
While living in Bangladesh, EqualShot principal Barbara Becker managed the production of this documentary on poverty alleviation programs for Women's World Banking/ International Coalition on Women and Credit. Profiles of development programs for women in Nepal and Bangladesh were also produced for broadcast during the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
Liz Karlin, MD
This video tribute to the late feminist doctor was produced to educate the public about violence against abortion providers.
Witness
EqualShot founder Barbara Becker served as manager for Witness, a program designed to promote the use of video by human rights groups. Barbara represented Witness on missions to Egypt, Israel, Palestinian Territories and Cyprus and trained advocates in the use of video techniques for human rights documentation. Witness was awarded the VH1 honors award in 1996. Barbara and musician Peter Gabriel frequently acted as spokespeople for the program. Additionally, she developed an extensive human rights video archive in consultation with Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.
Advancing the Rule of Law
Designed as a fundraising vehicle, this video was first shown at a benefit for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. The 12-minute piece, produced with filmmaker John Ankele, gave viewers an eye-opening look at the Lawyers Committee's refugee asylum program.