WHAT IS #WAFSAC?

Four months ago we premiered our documentary As Worlds Divide at Federation Square, Melbourne, and in collaboration with the Indigenous Education Foundation (IEF) launched the #wafsac – ‘watch a film, save a culture’ fundraising drive. We’ve since held public screening events in Torquay, Redfern, Bondi, Avalon, Newcastle, Forster, Sawtell, Byron, Casuarina, Burleigh Heads, Northcote and Mallorca – raising more than $43,455 for the Suku Mentawai program. Thank you.

I’d like to write a little about this #wafsac drive and exactly how it works, as we are receiving an increasing amount of public interest as to how or where to see the film.

One option is to wait until we organise a public screening within your neighbourhood, but an alternative – and what many do not realise – is that it is possible to stream the film within your home, office or club – right away!

All the necessary information about hosting a screening is available at iefprograms.org/wafsac. It’s so simple. All we need from you is a date, time and location. From there, we’ll send a pre-designed invitation to share with friends or family, or to add to your event page. Then on the day of your screening we’ll send you a private link to stream! *Keep in mind that these events can be as big or small as you like – ALL are greatly appreciated.

In addition to raising important funding and awareness, these screenings are also helping us build a global community of #wafsac Personal Film Ambassadors (PFA’s) – people who care about the rights of Indigenous people and who want to see this program and campaign succeed. This community is now over 700 strong and we feel we can grow to a few thousand by the time we launch our 30-day global push later this year.

Being a tiny team of volunteers, and focusing a great deal of time and resources on helping progress the program activities in Mentawai, we’ve only managed the 12 public screenings thus far. However, to give you a sense of the spirit of this #wafsac drive and generous support of our audiences, in addition to our own community events, 43 screenings across 9 different countries have since taken place. Through this, you’ve collectively raised another $8,481 for the Mentawai program – bringing the total to almost $52,000. Amazing.

So… if you’d like to watch our film, share it with others, or join our growing community, please check out the 3 simple steps at iefprograms.org/wafsac or contact us here. Alternatively, keep an eye out for a public screening event near you… with just one simple action we can help save a precious culture – #wafsac

Masurak bagatta