Case Study · September 2021 – January 2022
Africa United
Navigating Sundance, a global pandemic, and an active civil conflict to bring an Ethiopian impact film to the world's most important independent film audience — and building relationships that outlasted the pivot.
The Work
The festival changed format.
The conflict changed everything.
The relationships didn't go anywhere.
An impact film navigating an active conflict
The Doka Film Team came to Sundance with a powerful Ethiopian Civil War impact film and a plan to activate around it. COVID forced the festival virtual. The Tigray conflict escalated. The original activation plan became impossible to execute — but the relationships being built were more important than ever.
Build what survives the pivot
Rather than abandoning the strategy when circumstances changed, the focus shifted to what would endure: securing a BlackHouse programming slot, developing strategic partnerships with organizations whose missions aligned with the film's subject matter, and building the relationship infrastructure that would carry the project forward regardless of what the festival looked like.
Work Delivered
Strategy, identity,
and partners that stayed
The pivot wasn't a failure.
It was the foundation.
When COVID forced Sundance virtual and the Tigray conflict escalated beyond what the original activation could address, the strategic partners, the BlackHouse relationship, and the brand infrastructure built during this period became the starting point for everything that came next. The work survived the pivot because it was built to last.
"The festival changed format. The conflict changed everything. But the relationships we built — those didn't go anywhere."
Impact