Elsa Figueira / Social-impact film / São Tomé and Príncipe

A film campaign designed to make domestic violence harder to ignore.

Elsa Figueira brought a documentary, a public launch, cast and crew, local partners, and international media coverage into one campaign platform. The website gave a sensitive social issue a visible public record while inviting people to watch, discuss, and support the work.

Visit the live site Back to HAAM Africa

Documentary campaign

What Should Elsa Do?

What eyes can see, we can change.

public launch

2016

The campaign page records a launch in São Tomé and Príncipe on 19 February 2016.

site languages

The live archive is available in English, Estonian, and Portuguese for local and international audiences.

media networks

The archive links coverage from VOA Português, RDP África, Deutsche Welle, RTP África, Rede Angola, and local media.

current role

Archive

The live site now preserves the film campaign, its people, partners, launch, and public response.

The premise

A sensitive issue needed emotional force, public credibility, and a clear way into the story.

A social-impact film cannot rely on a synopsis alone. Visitors need to understand why the issue matters, who made the work, how the campaign entered public conversation, and what they can do after encountering it.

The website combined the documentary's central message with evidence of real participation: actors, creators, supporters, partners, launch photographs, interviews, and media appearances. Together they made the campaign feel locally rooted and publicly accountable.

The interaction model

See the issue. Meet the people. Follow the campaign into public life.

01Enter through the film
The documentary title and central message establish the emotional stakes before the visitor encounters campaign logistics.
02Recognize the community
Cast, crew, creators, supporters, and partners show that the project was made through a wide local network.
03Verify the public response
Radio, television, press, and launch documentation extend the work beyond the website and record its reach.

Emotional entry

Let the film's question open the experience without turning pain into spectacle.

The documentary title creates an immediate human question. The interface supports that emotional entry with restraint, allowing the issue and the people involved to carry the weight rather than adding unnecessary campaign language.

A direct title gives visitors a reason to pause
The opening frames change as possible rather than inevitable
Visual storytelling stays connected to the documentary itself

Public proof

Treat media coverage as evidence of conversation, not decoration.

Interviews and appearances across local and international outlets show how the project moved through public culture. Organizing those references on the campaign page helped the film remain legible after the launch moment had passed.

Coverage is attached to named people and appearances
Local and international media sit inside one campaign timeline
The page records momentum that would otherwise be scattered across platforms

Collective ownership

Make the network behind the film visible.

The large cast, creator, partner, and supporter sections communicate that the project belonged to more than one author. For a campaign about social awareness, showing that collective effort was part of the message.

People are named instead of collapsed into an anonymous production credit
Local partners and supporters become part of the public record
The archive preserves relationships as well as promotional material

What remains

The campaign survived its launch, but its next role needs to be explicit.

The site now functions as an archive of a 2016 intervention. A visitor can understand that the documentary existed and see the community around it, but the experience does not yet clearly say whether the film can be watched, licensed, screened, taught, or used to access support today.

Next product decision

Turn the archive into a safeguarding-aware screening kit.

State the project's current status, make screening or viewing information primary, provide facilitator materials, and add verified domestic-violence support resources appropriate to each audience and language.

Project record

A campaign platform built around a São Toméan production network.

This case study focuses on the website and campaign structure. The live archive contains the fuller record of actors, creators, partners, supporters, interviews, and media appearances.

Campaign: Elsa Figueira
Documentary: What Should Elsa Do?
Location: São Tomé and Príncipe
Launch: 19 February 2016
Production: Haamer Ventures OÜ, Galo Cantá, and Pekagboom
HAAM role: Campaign website, interaction design, and digital storytelling

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