WHO DECIDES
WHAT YOU THINK?

WHO DECIDES
HOW YOU VOTE?

WHO DECIDES
WHAT YOU FEEL?

PLAY THE TRAILER
TAKE THE SURVEYWATCH THE FILM
Free-to-watch in Africa for a limited time
“ the kind of story that makes you question everything ”

Information is a weapon.

There’s an industry that few people understand, but it understands you. It understands your behaviour, your impulses and your desires. Brands, corporations and governments pay billions every year for that information.
‍
INFLUENCE charts the recent advancements in weaponized communication by investigating the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious public relations and reputation management firm: the British multinational, Bell Pottinger.

We will soon make the film free to view across the entire African continent to help arm citizens with the information they need to better understand this industry. 

You can currently rent or buy the film on the platform of your choice.
“extraordinary, eye-opening”
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
"Cool yet blistering"
POPMATTERS
"Riveting and stylish"
SCREEN DAILY
ARE YOU THE BULLET?
You may have been a participant in an influence campaign without even knowing it. Answer a few questions to find out.
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FIGHT BACK
There’s a big difference between information and knowledge. Here are resources to help you better understand and spread the word about the influence industry.
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OUR WEBSITE PARTNERS

OUR FILM PARTNERS

THE FILMMAKERS

RICHARD POPLAK is an award-winning author, journalist, and filmmaker. He has become one of the most widely read and controversial political journalists in South Africa, editing at large for Daily Maverick. Poplak has reported from over 25 developing countries, for many of the world’s prominent titles. In 2019 he was part of a team that won the prestigious Global Shining Light award for investigative journalism. He is a former Rockefeller Fellow and has published five books: Ja, No, Man: Growing Up White in Apartheid-era South Africa, The Sheikh’s Batmobile: in Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World, Kenk: A Graphic Portrait, an anthology of his Daily Maverick election coverage, Until Julius Comes: Adventures in the Political Jungle and Continental Shift: A Journey Through Africa’s Changing Fortunes.
DIANA NEILLE is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker from Johannesburg, South Africa, and the co-writer and director of Influence. An alumna of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Diana has spent the last few years building new media and documentary film and television start-ups. Her projects focus on global political and corporate corruption, organised crime and illicit financial flows.
EYESTEELFILM is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company co-founded by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression. Today the studio is run by Co-Presidents Mila Aung-Thwin and Bob Moore.
STORYSCOPE is a production company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, helmed by Neil Brandt, Laura Colucci, Thandi Davids and Lauren Clifford-Holmes. It has developed, produced, commissioned and distributed hundreds of hours of fiction and non-fiction content on broadcast, theatrical and SVOD platforms, including Al Jazeera, ARTE, VPRO, MTV, Sundance Channel, BBC, PBS, ZDF, NHK, CGTN, FX, National Geographic Channel and Fox Channels, among others.

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