About us

We support provocative and challenging non-fiction films with an international reach. We are a not for profit co-operative raising donations from individuals, groups and organisations who believe in using the power of film to make change. We provide development and production funding, as well as campaigning outreach support to each film we work with. These elements combine to make Tipping Point Film Fund a unique and exciting venture.

The Power of People and Film

Tipping Point Film Fund is for people from all walks of life, all ages and all parts of the world – supporting challenging, truth telling films.

The power of film to provoke debate and become a focal point for pushing new ideas is becoming more and more routine. They can be used to influence thinking at the highest political level as well as a tool around which grass-roots organisations can mobilise – and much more in between. We want the films we support to move, inspire and engage  audiences around the world – and from there, to get involved in the campaigning-for-change potential each and every film we support will have.

‘The world of the tipping point is a place where the unexpected becomes expected, where radical change is more than a possibility. It is – contrary to all our expectations – a certainty’.

Malcolm Gladwell ‘The Tipping Point’

Our Passion for Film & Social Justice – in equal measure

Tipping Point Film Fund’s roots are deep in the social action campaigning world where, to understand the big issues affecting all of us, you need to dive deep into the structures that underpin them. That means working harder to understand a situation; challenging preconceived ideas; being in for the ‘long haul’. It also, typically, means the rewards are greater because they are fundamentally changing a situation – be it about rights or the economy or the environment. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, give him a net and he will feed his family for life. Aid goes so far, but support for those advocating debt cancellation goes much, much further. Reveal and expose the root causes and you are halfway there to making fundamental change.

TPFF sees a certain class of social action, cinematic feature documentary film in the same way. Film can reflect, provoke, challenge and move us – whether we are the audience or decision-makers (political leaders, the business world) –and can take us behind the story we thought we knew, to reveal…we didn’t really know it at all. And, like the debt cancellation campaign analogy, film funding for documentary (cheap by fiction standards), can also reap tangible rewards – Black Gold a film about coffee, aid and trade in Ethiopia, actually resulted in long term financial benefits accruing to the farmers in the film in various ways.

Films can change lives, laws, societies – and these are the films we need now as much, if not more, than ever. These are the films that TPFF wants to back. Films diving deep into global issues of economy or environment, human rights or conflict. Films which aim to not just move audiences, but move them to act – in whichever way they feel able. Using the traditional release model (short theatrical releases, dvd release followed by television broadcast) with new media strategies to complement this, TPFF wants to ensure such films have the maximum ‘life after release’ – that is, a powerful, effective outreach campaign around each film.

Quality control is at the heart of what TPFF does – it works with talented, creative and committed film-makers on strong subjects with a global reach. We want to ensure more – not fewer – voices are being heard, and being appreciated as they bring us stories that must be told.

Why your donation to film can make a difference

TPFF believes that donors to its fund – no matter how small – can help make impact on the key issues of our day, by bringing films and their awareness-raising campaigns to the widest possible international audience, as well as influencing decision-makers. Find out how.