This week Kirsty Weakley shines the spotlight on how Christian Aid has made the most of film in its latest campaign.

I’ve cheated a little bit this week, and instead of picking just one film, I thought I’d take a look at how Christian Aid is using film during its Tax Justice Campaign.

In partnership with Church Action on Poverty, Christian Aid is calling on the British government to tackle tax-dodging by British companies in the developing world. They are travelling around the UK in a double-decker bus to raise awareness and collect signatures to present to the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

The tour started on 24 August at the Greenbelt festival and will finish in Manchester on 15 October after 53 days on the road.

An interactive map on the Christian Aid website plots the route and by clicking on the places the bus has already visited users can watch videos, view slideshows and read about what happened at each location – much more fun than just directing people to a Youtube playlist (although you can still do this).

The videos are short and snappy explaining the campaign and directing people back to the website to sign the petition. They work well with the other campaign content on the website.

Here is the film explaining the team’s activity in Bristol:

 

The use of film does not terminate there. On the bus Christian Aid is showing a documentary film that it made to explain how tax dodging impacts poverty in Zambia.

Through a good balance of interviews with people on the ground and voice-over commentary, it points out that if the country received the tax it was due it would not have to rely on aid and directs people to the campaign page.

View a short version of the film below: