Category: Advocacy Campaigns

Murad Code Briefing Notes

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There is a newly published resource for understanding what forces promote extractive or abusive dynamics in working with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

“Briefing Note on Drivers of Harmful Practices in the Gathering and Use of Information about SCRSV”

This briefing note from the Murad Code includes detailed information about systemic factors to better anticipate and counteract them when working with survivors. Re-Present Media’s Director, Jennifer Crystal Chien, participated in the research.

The accompanying publication, “Briefing Note on Different Kinds of Harms Caused by Information-Gathering and Use About SCRSV If It Is Not Survivor-Centred or Effective,” identifies different harms that can result from working with survivors of systemic and conflict related sexual violence.

A Human Rights Approach to Media Accountability

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Sherizaan Minwalla

Sherizaan Minwalla is a human rights lawyer and researcher who has been based in Iraq for more than a decade. She has worked closely with the Yazidi community and survivors since the 2014 genocide.

Individuals featured in documentaries or media reports may be exposed to physical, social, or psychological risks.

The concept of informed consent as a legal requirement is rooted in ethical principles to ”do no harm.”

We encourage filmmakers to integrate informed consent … while ultimately working towards structures and mechanisms of societal and legal accountability.

Advancing a Global Human Rights Approach to Media Accountability
By SHERIZAAN MINWALLA, Founder of Taboo LLC

Global attention on unethical media practices has intensified in recent years, leading to greater scrutiny of harms that occur to sources and participants. Individuals featured in documentaries or media reports may be exposed to physical, social, or psychological risks in the process of gathering their stories and in the aftermath of public exposure, requiring legal protection from and accountability for retaliation, stigma, and trauma. This is particularly important when sensitive or controversial issues are covered.

Media makers, including documentary filmmakers and video journalists, are increasingly considering the voluntary ethics and guidelines that apply to their work. However, towards the creation of a long-term solution to media accountability at the societal and legal levels, a framework for engaging with survivors should be based on informed consent, trauma-informed, survivor- and community-centered practices. From a human rights lens, implementing informed consent practices is a step toward ensuring that media makers can be held to account legally and socially, providing a safeguard against exploitative practices.

The concept of informed consent as a legal requirement is rooted in ethical principles to ”do no harm” and to safeguard the rights of participants in medical research, starting with the Nuremberg Code of 1947. It followed the disclosure that the Nazi regime conducted medical experiments on prisoners and other marginalized groups that amounted to atrocities. The Nuremberg Code was expanded by the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and the 1979 Belmont Report, stressing the importance of confidentiality, assessment of risks and benefits, and the autonomy of research participants. These ethical codes have been codified in laws across the world, making informed consent a legal requirement for medical providers, researchers, lawyers, and other professionals working with human beings.

These principles are also the basis for guidelines such as those set forth in the Murad Code on documenting sexual violence in conflict and the Dart Center Europe’s guidelines for Reporting on Sexual Violence in Conflict. However, since these are not legally enforceable rules, participants engaging with the media need legal protections. We encourage filmmakers to integrate informed consent into their filmmaking practices, while ultimately working towards structures and mechanisms of societal and legal accountability.

Centering Care, Consent and Community in Visual Storytelling – March 25

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Centering Care, Consent and Community in Visual Storytelling


Mon, 25 Mar 2024
17:30 – 20:00 CET

The Hague Humanity Hub
Fluwelen Burgwal 58, The Hague

Join ART WORKS Projects, Re-Present Media, Video Consortium, and The Hague Humanity Hub for a community learning event on best practices for consent-based, trauma-informed, and community-centered visual storytelling. Organised with the Movies that Matter Festival, the evening will engage diverse participants who have been using visual storytelling to create impact, whether in grassroots organising, advocacy, education, fundraising, or policy change.

Over the course of the evening, we will hear from Jennifer Huang, Director and Producer of The Long Rescue, the 2022 recipient of the Storyboard Impact Community Fund from Movies That Matter Industry Film and Impact initiative. We will also host a panel discussion discussing cases from different organisations and mediamakers. Participants will be able to share their ideas on how we can develop hands-on tools that will nurture industry-wide change and promote ethical, responsible, and respectful storytelling processes for trauma survivors, mediamakers, and the people and organisations who amplify these stories.

This initiative is part of the Humanity Hub’s programming in collaboration with visual advocacy organisations aiming to emphasise storytelling, photography, filmmaking, and other visual media as essential tools for conveying narratives, fostering understanding, and amplifying the voices of vulnerable groups. These are critical tools for anyone working in the peace, justice, and humanitarian field. Our primary goal is to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among visual advocacy organisations, extending valuable insights to the broader peace and justice community.

We warmly invite filmmakers as well as other practitioners – including social justice and peace advocates, campaigners, fundraisers, policy makers, justice and legal practitioners, and representatives from civil society organisations – to join us. This event is a unique opportunity for mutual learning, allowing us to deepen our collective understanding of how we can employ visual storytelling in a more ethical, responsible and respectful manner.

Free and open to the public.

Register on Eventbrite.

What’s Up with Docs featuring Jennifer Crystal Chien – Keep on Keeping on

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DOK Industry Podcast - Keep on Keeping On

Our Director Jennifer Crystal Chien is featured in DOK Leipzig’s new podcast episode “Keep on Keeping On” from What’s Up with Docs. In this episode, host Toni Bell discusses with Jennifer the vital question of who is determining what is of interest and to whom?! They dive into the challenges faces by BIPOC filmmakers working in a dominant white supremacy culture and the need to generate new and more authentic representations and portrayals of BIPOC communities. Jennifer also talks about her commitment to advocacy and the field-building work at Re-Present Media.

Tune in now: What’s Up with Docs feat. Jennifer Crystal Chien – Keep on Keeping on

Curators of the episode: Toni Bell and Brianna Jovahn, MBA.

Ethical Filmmaking with Survivor Stories

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Yixuan Zeng wrote an article about Ethical Filmmaking with Survivor Stories published on Color Congress‘s Medium.

Yixuan shared about watching survivor stories as a survivor themself, Re-Present Media’s work to discuss ethical filmmaking practices for working with survivors in our Centering Survivor Stories series, and the importance of providing solace and solidarity to survivors through stories created with thoughtful and intentional practices.

We are working with Yixuan to create the documentation for our Centering Survivor Stories series, which will cover the high-level themes and lessons learned from the sessions so that it can be circulated widely beyond the immediate workshop participants, while also protecting the privacy of participating individuals and the details of their films.

DOK Leipzig: Personal Storytelling from Underrepresented Communities

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Re-Present Media Director, Jennifer Crystal Chien, participated in the DOK Leipzig 2022 Industry Talk: Personal Storytelling from Underrepresented Communities on October 18, 2022.

Jennifer was in conversation with filmmakers Brenda Akele Jorde (The Homes We Carry), Mickaël Bandela (One Mother) and Paula Vaccaro, founder of Pinball London and member of the steering committee of ARTEF. The panel was moderated by Gugi Gumilang, Executive Director of In-Docs.

MVFF: The Power of Personal Documentary Films

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Re-Present Media Director, Jennifer Crystal Chien, participated in the Mill Valley Film Festival 2022 Panel: The Power of Personal Documentary Films: The Distributors on October 13, 2022.

In early 2022, Re-Present Media issued an article, The Power of Personal Documentary Films, presenting data gathered from emerging BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) filmmakers working on personal documentary films. In particular, the article explored the impact of racism and white-supremacy culture on their work.

This session presented highlights of the survey project as it relates to the current distribution landscape, then dove into a deep conversation with distribution professionals. Themes included: the value of personal documentary films from diverse communities, how personal documentaries are currently distributed, the challenges of marketing such films, the missed opportunities to connect with audiences because of an unconscious bias against these films, and how strategies can shift among distributors for programming, acquiring, and marketing personal documentaries.

Jennifer was in conversation with Brenda Avila-Hanna (New Day Films), Amanda Salazar (Film Programmer), and Annie Roney (ro*co Films, Founder & Chief Executive Officer). The panel was moderated by Claire Aguilar (producer/consultant, former Director of Programming and Policy at International Documentary Association).

Resource List for Practical and Ethical Considerations for Working with Film Participants

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This is a list of tools and resources to help filmmakers, funders, and participants address ethical challenges that arise during the filmmaking process. These resources cover a range of topics, including: financial impacts and benefits, ownership, content review rights, and the film’s impact on participants. This list was prepared for a workshop presented by Filmmakers Collaborative SF and Re-Present Media.

  • What is Ethics?
    Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
    An explanation of what ethics is.
  • Making an Ethical Decision (PDF)
    Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
    Questions to help you make an ethical decision.
  • Inside the Documentary Cash Grab (Sep 16, 2022)
    The Hollywood Reporter
    As streaming transforms the once-sleepy nonfiction space into a money-making juggernaut of hit series, cool parties and $30 million single-title sales, THR talks to Alex Gibney, Ken Burns and other filmmakers about rising costs, ethical lapses and the very soul of their profession.
  • Editorial Standards
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    The editorial guidelines and standards of Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  • Dealing with trauma and survivors of trauma (June 4, 2020)
    Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation provided this guidance to assist staff involved in the reporting, discussion or depiction of trauma. It includes advice on dealing with victims, survivors, relatives of victims, and witnesses of crime, accidents, and natural disasters.
  • Making Media with Communities: Guidance for Researchers
    Ann Light of Northumbria University and Tamar Millen of the Community Media Association
    These guidelines set out a framework of ethical and practical considerations for creating media with communities to think about the process, the approach, and the legacy of the project.

The D-Word: Centering Personal Narratives of BIPOC Communities

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What are the experiences of emerging documentary filmmakers of color working on personal stories in the industry?

In this D-Word Focused F2F, Jennifer Crystal Chien, producer, director and co-founder of Re-Present Media, summarizes and expands on findings from focus groups and surveys responding to this timely and urgent question. The discussion then focuses on how we can utilize the research to facilitate sustainable industry change.

The recording is available on YouTube.

For more information on our campaign: The Power of Personal Documentary Films