We all want a green transition, but at what cost? A battery-powered world depends on lithium mining, which often impacts some of the most vulnerable communities.

MATERIA PRIMA is a poetic documentary filmed in Bolivia that explores Europe’s extractivist and neocolonial mindset and its historical roots. It opens a conversation about global power structures and responsibility in the green transition by focusing on one of the most prized minerals of our current crisis: lithium. 

When we saw the film, we immediately saw how impactful it could be. What we needed was an approach that takes into account both the responsibility of the Global North and the needs of the Global South. 

The campaign, currently in development, aims to use the film as a catalyst for dialogue, awareness, and action in both Europe and Latin America. It brings together stakeholders from different regions to ensure that no one is left behind in the shift toward decarbonisation.

What we hope is to go further superficial commitments of corporate responsibility, and influence real structural change. It is not just about protecting everyone during the green transition but also about rethinking who gets to profit from it justly! 

So that we can ensure an equitable approach, FILM & CAMPAIGN is collaborating with NODO SUR (Bogotá), combining our experience in documentary impact campaigns across Europe and Latin America. Following an initial brainstorming workshop at our office with the film’s director Jens Schanze, we are now looking forward to our first collaborative lab with Nodo Sur. 

Thanks to the LandxSea Film Festival and support from the British Council in partnership with the Independent Cinema Office, the Colombian team will be able to come to Scotland and attend the UK premiere of MATERIA PRIMA and partake in our first joint campaign development workshop.  

Irish 'exploration pioneer' David Horgan in MATERIA PRIMA

Already, many ideas have started to germinate and we are impatient to see how they evolve.

In Latin America, particularly Bolivia, the focus is on strengthening indigenous voices and ensuring they remain central in conversations about land, resources, and rights. Key aims include raising awareness of lithium extraction, strengthening understanding of rights, supporting collective action, and building networks between communities. Potential activities include the collaboration with mobile cinemas to show the film in remote areas, workshops on indigenous rights and sustainable energy, and links with grassroots initiatives promoting fair and ethical resource governance.

In Europe, the campaign addresses the hidden impacts of the green transition. It aims to raise awareness of new forms of exploitation, challenge consumer behaviour, encourage ethical decision-making, and push for stronger supply chain legislation and corporate accountability. Activities could include public workshops, consumer awareness campaigns such as a “Fair Power” label, advocacy events, and engagement with policymakers and industry.

Across both regions, the campaign will seek to build solidarity, develop shared demands for decision-makers, connect workers across supply chains, and explore long-term models for ethical governance of raw materials.

Cine Global, the German Distributors of MATERIA PRIMA, are supporting our initial impact activities and releasing the film theatrically from 22 October 2026.  

Follow our progress, if you too want a just transition!

Sign up on the film's website

Case study: Our food needs to be free of exploitation. Here is how the documentary THE PICKERS inspired a campaign across Europe with more than 10,000 event participants, a 40-day tour covering Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France, and handing over some 5,000 oranges wrapped in FAIR PICK messaging.

Case study: The German documentary film HINTER GUTEN TÜREN (Behind Good Doors) focuses on the sensitive and crucial issue of violence against children within families. The impact campaign for this film addresses several key challenges while securing strategic partnerships and fostering deeply emotional connections with audiences to inspire sociopolitical change.

Case study: Our biggest campaign yet, with a nationwide day of action beating the blockbusters and changing audiences' attitudes.

• Film director and producer: Hubertus Siegert, SUMO Film
• Campaign host organisation: Christine von Kirschbaum / Eva Thomas / Tina Sander, mittendrin e.V.
• Campaign strategist: Ben Kempas, Film & Campaign
• Fundraiser and spokesperson: Raul Krauthausen
• Content and social media producer: Suse Bauer
• Publicity: Edith Kleibel, Media Office
• Influencer communications: Lia Gänzler 
• Outreach managers: Dubi Petrak, Film & Campaign / Tanja Grundmann, mittendrin e.V.
• Databases and event publishing: Aga Slawinska, Film & Campaign
• Graphic design: Propaganda B
• Website build and publishing: Film & Campaign
• Campaign funders: Aktion Mensch / SAP / Bertelsmann Stiftung / DATEV / Randstad Stiftung

The biggest campaign we’ve ever worked on, DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (Children of Utopia) would find itself competing with cinema blockbusters thanks to innovative outreach work bringing the first ever 'cinema on demand' campaign to hundreds of screens in cities and towns all over Germany. 

From the earliest stages of this project, it was clear that this film, about inclusive education, already had several of the crucial ingredients required to build a compelling campaign – a strong message, a great cast and creative team, and a fresh perspective on a topical issue.

But the task of bringing those qualities to the fore was far from simple. Like many independent docs, Children of Utopia’s distinctive voice risked being lost in the clamour for attention in an industry where funding and high-profile exhibition slots can make the difference between success and failure.

In the world of independent documentary filmmaking, it’s not every day that you get to compete with major blockbuster titles. Remarkably, this is something that a project powered by Film & Campaign has now achieved. In Part Three of our knowledge-sharing series on DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (Children of Utopia), we look back on the trailblazing success of how this film with a small budget made a big impact.

On 15 May the top two most popular films in German cinemas that day were predictable enough: Avengers: Endgame and Pokémon Detective Pikachu. At number three, however, there was a rather different title.

DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (Children of Utopia), an independent documentary film that makes the case for inclusive education, found itself propelled to the top of the nation’s cinema charts, thanks to a unique campaign focused on launching the film all over the country as part of a single day of action.

In the second part of our mini-series looking at the largest campaign we’ve ever worked on, we look at the challenge of building Germany’s first-ever cinema-on-demand campaign from the ground up.

This is the first in a three-part series about our biggest campaign to date, around the new German documentary DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (Children of Utopia). Over the coming weeks, we’ll be providing behind-the-scenes insights into a campaign that we’re excited, proud, and a little nervous about.

Germany likes to think of itself as a leader: pragmatic, progressive, rational. But one area where Europe’s biggest economy is falling behind is inclusive education. In contrast to many other countries, the practice of including disabled children within mainstream education only really got underway a decade ago.

Since then, the practice of segregating children with disabilities remains deeply ingrained in many parts of the country. Although the highly federalised nature of government means experiences vary greatly depending on what state a child is born in, in 4.9 per cent of students in Germany studied at special schools during the 2008 to 2009 school year. Eight years later, the figure was 4.3 per cent — a mere 40,000 fewer children.

Inclusion – a human right still being questioned

The slow pace of this change has not gone unnoticed, but many Germans would argue that there is still a deep indifference and in some cases outright scepticism towards the concept of inclusive education.

DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (Children of Utopia) is a film aimed squarely at challenging this. Following the experience of a cohort of pupils at an inclusive school, this painstaking documentary charts the lives of one mixed class from childhood to adulthood.

For director and producer Hubertus Siegert, it was also clearly a labour of love, on a subject dear to his heart. But there was an obvious problem. In the crowded and competitive field of German documentary films – with more than 70 new feature docs released in cinemas every year – how could this film stand out? How would this vital contribution to an ongoing nationwide debate reach a mass audience?

At the Mittendrin offices. From left: Ben Kempas, Tina Sander, Eva Thoms, Christine von Kirschbaum, Hubertus Siegert, Suse Bauer, Raúl Krauthausen

• Client: Mittendrin e.V., Cologne
• Jpb: Bespoke website for the campaign around the film DIE KINDER DER UTOPIE (full campaign story here)
• NationBuilder Architect, training and accessibility proofing: Ben Kempas, Film & Campaign
• Graphic design: Propaganda B
• Database Setup and Maintenance: Aga Slawinska, Film & Campaign
• Website archive: dkdu-kampagne.mittendrin-koeln.de

As I sometimes refer to myself as a "cultural refugee from Germany", it's very good to see the Germans finally getting their heads around the importance of outreach campaigns for documentaries.

Here's a talk and discussion recorded at a Filmfest event in Hamburg, hosted by Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Hostein and Deutsche Filmakademie. I had been asked to do an 'impulsvortrag' (an 'impetus speech'). That was a new word to me, and I admit I had to ask a German friend what it involves: a short talk to kickstart a longer discussion.

Anyway, if you can spare 10 minutes and understand German, this clip may give you a better idea about our work:

• A film by Alexander Dittner and Ben Kempas 
• Produced by Xframe GmbH for Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB)
• 44 minutes

TAKE ON EAST GERMANY's regime and pay the ultimate price

This is the story of Michael Gartenschläger, an early political prisoner in East Germany.

Sentenced for life at the age of 17, and later redeemed by the West, he could not stop fighting the socialist regime.

He boldly dismantled spring-gun mines at the Iron Curtain to reveal their presence to the public. The Stasi killed him in 1976.