The documentary feature film premiered at the 2020 Sundance film festival.
Richard Poplak and Diana Neille's award-winning film 'Influence' is now available in Nigeria.
Based on the rise and fall of London-based PR firm Bell Pottinger, the film can now be accessed by Nigerian film lovers on the film's website.
Produced by Neil Brandt of Storyscope (South Africa) and Bob Moore of EyeSteelFilm (Canada), the film serves as a terrifying reminder of the dangers that lurk within the post-truth era, in which masters of disinformation use new digital tools to wage ancient propaganda wars — undermining the very fabric of democratic societies.
Nigerians have firsthand experience of this info war, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration recently facing off with activists and free-press advocates over the banning of Twitter.
Speaking on the inspiration behind the film, South African journalist and co-director Diana Neille shared:
“After following the story deep into the roots of modern geopolitical spin-doctoring, we discovered the fingerprints of Bell Pottinger’s founder, Lord Tim Bell, on many of the world’s most formative political campaigns.
"We felt that if our viewers comprehensively travelled Bell’s journey since the 1970s, we would end up telling the story of influence and how it helped establish what we now call the post-truth era. It’s the context in which so many democracies around the world are now floundering.”
Co-producer Neil Brandt added: "As storytellers from the Global South who have always tried to speak truth to power. INFLUENCE puts a uniquely African narrative at the centre of a global debate around the nature of truth in a world in which fact and fiction appear interchangeable. As Leonard Cohen put it, ‘there are cracks in everything — that’s how the light gets in’.”
'Influence' is an official South African/Canadian co-production, with backing from the Blue Ice Docs, Hot Docs Partners Fund, the Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles, the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, and Canada Media Fund. Broadcast rights are currently held by Arte (France/Germany), documentary Channel (Canada) and eTV (SA). Cinetic Media is handling world sales.
