"Filmmaking - at its best - has the capacity to transform the way people think, and create real social change, and now the tools to do it are more accessible than ever before. This book shows how activists and human rights campaigners can harness the power of images and stories for their own purposes - it's a step-by-step guide to the handicam revolution."

WITNESS is a United-States-based organisation using the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses in an effort to catalyse grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change. This book is based on the work of WITNESS and other leading video advocates worldwide. It is designed for human rights, environmental, and social justice organisations interested in using video in their work, and is designed to appeal to experienced campaigners as well as aspiring video advocates.

Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism provides tips, a range of case studies, and exercises on the strategic, technical, and ethical issues involved in using video for advocacy. The publication is edited by a collaborative of four leading video activists, and features chapters by WITNESS staff and other guest authors - along with a preface by WITNESS co-founder Peter Gabriel.

Specifically, the book provides an analysis of what's going on in this growing global field, with a how-to primer to doing it yourself - "it provides a crash course in the basics of social justice video documentation and advocacy". Readers learn how to plan, film, edit and distribute; they are shown how to adopt an effective strategy so that their video makes a difference. Video for Change also covers the practical ethics and responsibilities of social justice video work and offers a global range of real-life stories to learn from.

WITNESS is distributing the book to its entire Partner Network of human rights groups, many of which will use the materials to train other locally based groups. Members of the public are able to purchase copies of the book or download a digital copy free of charge.

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Free download; US$24.95 (a 20% discount is available if ordered via the WITNESS website)

Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian (available for free download on the WITNESS website). Printed editions are also available in Indonesian and Turkish.

WITNESS website; and email from Matisse Bustos Hawkes to The Communication Initiative on March 10 2009.