'Dukale's Dream' demonstrates the benefits of documentaries to NGOs

How can international nongovernmental organizations explain complex development issues — and the impact of their work in developing countries — in a way that can be easily understood by their supporters and donors?

For U.S. filmmaker Josh Rothstein, documentaries can be an important medium for this. Through the length of time involved in the filmmaking process, documentaries allow for more time to investigate the message to communicate and how it should be told.

“I think that the nature of documentary filmmaking, longer-form storytelling, is an important form and a very appropriate match for community development work and inherently with community development work there’s so much nuance,” Rothstein told Devex. “With shorter-form advertising, shorter-form spots or social media, you’re going to get an overview or you’re going get some sort of quick hits, but you’re not going to be able to fall into the storytelling component and ultimately get the sense that the audience would get.”