Imagine a world full of stories of hope. That’s the world I want to create. I want to create inspiring multimedia (film, photography and sound) that demonstrates the change being created by people doing good.

The Future We Are Creating

1000 Stories of Hope is about creating and distributing positive stories in a world that is being inundated on a daily basis with bad and sad news. While we by no means want to detract from the seriousness of the bad and sad news, we want to quietly remind people of the hope that is being created every day by individuals and groups in all corners of the world who are working towards social change and contributing to positive and happy communities. And we want to use the reminder about hope to generate a greater sense of optimism and inspiration to everyone, everywhere.

1000 Stories of Hope plans to be a platform where these stories (demonstrated through film, sound and photography) can be enjoyed by all. The first “batch” of stories of hope will focus on some innovative work by social entrepreneurs around the world.

Support for this issue is important because we know that there are many wonderful individuals and organisations out there who are doing amazing things through their social enterprises, creating innovation and bringing about some really great positive social change. Unfortunately, many of them just don’t have the resources to professionally produce media about the impact they’re creating. That’s where 1000 Stories of Hope comes in!

How We Are Creating It

 1000 Stories of Hope is about creating beautiful media for social entrepreneurs who are doing really amazing things but who don’t have the resources to professionally produce visual material to help them tell their stories. We believe that telling these stories not only shines a light on work that is creating social change but it also provides an opportunity to remind the world that there is always hope and that through hope, we can create change. We’ve identified our first “Story of Hope” focusing on a social enterprise called Pollinate Energy whose great work with poor communities in the urban slums of India has inspired us! Pollinate Energy are a group of young Australians who thrive on creating sustainable solutions to social problems. They improve the lives of India’s urban poor by providing them access to sustainable and affordable products that make their lives better. Pollinate Energy is based in Australia and India. Pollinate Energy have won two UN Awards recognizing their work and contribution. They’ve also been featured in various media. Pollinate Energy’s mission is:

To Improve the lives of India’s urban poor by giving them access to sustainable products that make their lives better.

To Empower local Indian entrepreneurs to be a positive force for change in India’s urban poor communities.

To Make social business mainstream by raising awareness about the communities we work with and supporting the next generation of social entrepreneurs.

You can find out more about Pollinate Energy here.

We’ll begin by travelling to India to spend two weeks making make a documentary-style short film that demonstrates the impact that Pollinate Energy is having. We’ll also take some awesome photos and record audio which will be used for the multimedia project. Our stories will be rich in personal human experience and will deploy the documentary-style that Director/Producer Lara Damiani is experienced in. We believe that creating media pieces for social enterprises will be of substantial value to those enterprises to promote their work and harness more supporters so they can continue doing what they’re doing. As well – they get to become part of the 1000 Stories of Hope journey which will begin with a dedicated 1000 Stories of Hope website and followed, we hope, by opportunities to keep spreading the hope through events like photography exhibitions, our films shown at international film festivals, production of photo coffee books and music CDs and more!

Our Story & Why You Should Support Us

1000 Stories of Hope was created by documentary filmmaker Lara Damiani.

Lara Damiani is a passionate documentary film-maker who has directed, produced and been involved in documentary films for television and industry. She is an inspiring finder-of-hope and teller-of-stories, who cares deeply about her subjects and the characters she brings to life on film. She has worked in Cambodia, India, Thailand, China, Burma and Tibet, and with indigenous communities across central Australia and in the Top End.

Her television credits include “Tibet’s Cry for Freedom”(her first feature film), a portrayal of Tibet’s struggle between autonomy and independence. This film won acclaim and included original, first-hand interviews by Lara with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Prime Minister (Professor Samdhong Rinpoche), and exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng. The film was shown in 14 international film festivals, broadcast on two international television stations and screened around Australia, Italy, Finland, France, the UK, the USA, Indonesia, Korea, Ireland and even Iceland!

Lara also produced a 120 minute feature DVD about the Dalai Lama called “The Man in Maroon” using excerpts of her interview with the Dalai Lama and interviews with famous musicians who talk about his relevance to our world today.

Lara’s current film projects include Banjo. This film, which received development funding from the South Australian Film Corporation, tells the story of Aboriginal elder Banjo Morton who led the first Aboriginal stockman walk-off in 1949. 60 years later he led a second walk-off, this time a return to traditional lands and a life of self-determination.

After her documentary on Tibet, Lara established Think Films to offer film and media production services to NGOs, Not-for-Profits and International Humanitarian and Aid Organisations.

Working with Lara on 1000 Stories of Hope, Story Number 1 will be professional photographer Claudio Raschella who, when he heard of Lara’s single-handed mission to make her Tibet documentary, offered to help her out. The two of them travelled together to Tibet and India, filming and photographing. They’ve sinced worked together in Cambodia for the Australian non-profit CUFA. Alongside Lara and Claude will be composer Jakub Gaudasinski whose amazing talents for creating powerful soundtracks using field recordings will be deployed to add a unique sound dimension to the project.

See more at: http://startsomegood.com/Venture/1000_stories_of_hope#sthash.JQggAcKm.dpuf