What is a Lyfta film?
A Lyfta film is a thought-provoking human story. Often the film features just one person's story, but in some cases our films feature several main characters (such as
Strudel Sisters,
The Last Trawler in the Fish Tales series, and Gender Equality in the
Awra Amba series). Our films have a strong story arc, and the main character is always interesting and engaging to watch. The stories vary a lot in theme and style, but the common denominator is that it makes the viewer understand that person's perspective, choices and context. In most cases, the film depicts a personal story that opens up a wider, societal issue. Some of the films follow a day-in-the-life format, others may touch upon a challenge the person has faced and show a solution. A Lyfta film aims to form a connection between the character and the viewer. Our stories are designed to provoke a feeling in the viewer, and to challenge perceptions. The filming style is intimate, which helps the viewer empathise with and gain a deeper understanding of the main character's motivations.
Lyfta films, as is the case with all documentaries, are subjectively told, creative pieces of work that show just one small slice of a person's life, and are not created to try to represent a whole ethnic group, society, culture, or country.
A Lyfta film is always situated within a storyworld - a 360° space featuring the main character of the film in their home or place of work. Storyworlds help to contextualise the film, and make the learning experience deeper and more vivid for the audience. The storyworld also includes what we call rich media articles - where we go deeper into the cultural, social, environmental or geographical topics that arise from the story or the location. The combination of the storyworld, film and the accompanying rich media articles make up the full Lyfta learning experience.
Recently, we asked our team what made a Lyfta film for them. Their answers highlighted the fact that a key aspect of a Lyfta story is the connection with the human being, sometimes in unexpected ways. That connection comes from an emotional response, and often this is because we empathise with a challenge that person has faced, or other times it is because of a surprise - like the scale of the plastic pollution in the
Beachcomber storyworld or seeing the streets of Nairobi in
Fashion Photographer.
One team member said: 'These humans are situated around the world so when experienced collectively they provide a multi-layered, multi-perspective understanding of different ways of 'being' around the world. They are stories of humans who aren't sharing them because of any sort of egocentric agenda...they are simply sharing who they are and why in a particular moment of time.'
Another said: 'Lyfta stories have an emotional tug but are not overly sentimental - they show life as it is. They're not didactic but often highlight global issues (sometimes potentially provocative ones) which encourage critical thinking.'
