Capetonian filmmaker and YouTuber, Dan Mace, has brought home two awards from this year’s 8th Annual Shorty Impact Awards in Los Angeles.
The Shorty Impact Awards recognises the commitment to purpose-driven work and celebrate brands, agencies, and NPOs making a positive global impact.
The award-winning film We Adopted an Orphanage, produced by Joe Films and Beast Philanthropy, won two awards namely: Global Impact of the Year and Audience Honor on YouTube.
The film showed the transformation of Baphumelele Children’s Home, raising R10 million for rebuilding the orphanage and garnering over 17 million views.
Dan, 33, from Pinelands, says: “The film captured the heart of South African culture and the ethos of Beast Philanthropy along with using digital and visual content as a vehicle to make a lasting difference.”
Of the film, he says: “I’d never be able to do this without my amazing team of South African creatives at JOE. I’ve worked all over the world, with many highly skilled filmmakers, but I can without a doubt say South Africa has talent like no other.
“There needs to be more light shone on the work and I feel like getting international recognition like this is slowly bringing awareness to the many unsung heroes in the creative space in SA.”
The first video in the series about Baphumelele aired on 11 January 2023 We Saved An Orphanage and helped rebuild the Khayelitsha children’s home, saving the kids from asbestos poisoning and helped to renovate all 13 houses at the orphanage.
This view count keeps grows and so do the donations for the upkeep of the orphanage.
Seven months later, after changing the lives of the children at the orphanage and its founder Mama Rosie, the team released We Adopted an Orphanage which continues to raise awareness and ensure the children’s home remains sustainable.
marsha.dean@inl.co.za