Volunteer film
James directed; Harrison Mendel was DP.
The work was volunteered after James heard Ginny speak about the centre and understood what the campaign was trying to change.
Watch the film The film
A volunteered fundraising film for the Child Advocacy Centre of Kelowna, built around Ginny Becker's story of why children needed one child-centred place to be heard after disclosure.
The approach
James directed and Harrison Mendel photographed the piece after James first heard Ginny speak about the centre at 100 Heroes in Kelowna. The film uses direct address and restraint to help people understand why the centre's $6 million facility campaign mattered.
Watch the filmProject details
- Release
- 2019
- Category
- Commercial
Community impact
Volunteered for the campaign after hearing the story.
James first heard Ginny Becker speak about the Child Advocacy Centre at 100 Heroes in Kelowna, where the initiative was selected after the evening's local charity pitches. After hearing why the centre was needed, he volunteered to direct Ginny's Story, with Harrison Mendel as director of photography.
The campaign asked Kelowna to help build a centre that could reduce the trauma of children being moved from person to person and facility to facility after disclosure. The CAC needed to raise $6 million for the facility.
The finished film played during the fundraiser and became one small part of the push that helped complete the $6 million raise. By the time the centre opened, the idea Ginny had been fighting for was no longer just an ask. It had become a real place where the right people could gather around a child instead of sending that child through the system alone.
Ginny's direct address keeps the film focused on a simple idea: after disclosure, a child should be met by the right people in one place instead of being sent through the system alone.
100 Heroes CAC selected at 100 Heroes Kelowna $6M campaign Ginny's Story fundraising film Opening KelownaNow opening report CYAC today Child & Youth Advocacy Centre of Kelowna
$6M campaign
Made for the room where the ask mattered.
The film was there to make the need feel close: a child should not have to move through the system alone, repeating the worst part of her life to one adult after another.
After the film
The centre became real.
Ginny kept carrying the work forward. The heart of the film is still the heart of the CYAC: bring the right people together, keep the child at the centre, and make the process less frightening.
Additional credits
- Director of Photography
- Harrison Mendel
- Story
- Ginny Becker
Behind the scenes
From the production.
Finished frames and behind-the-scenes photographs from the shoot.
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