A rather challenging project has landed on my desk. It is confidential, so I cannot talk of specifics here, save to say that it is to do with human rights, that it will be created in sisomo – sight, sound, motion, and that the stories must be told with complete anonymity – no recognizable names, voices, faces, even places.

The project also comes with no funding attached, and given its specifics it is extremely unlikely that the traditional documentary film funding bodies will be the slightest bit interested. Human rights and other humanitarian organizations, some of them at any rate, are aware of the problem this project is about but have passed on it.

The lack of funding is not an issue – there are ways and means, and pro bono clients have provided opportunities to do brilliant, groundbreaking work in the past. The very necessary anonymity is not such a big barrier either, with a small dose of lateral thinking. The stories are amazing ones, of the “there I go but for…” kind that we can all identify with to some degree. And, they really do need to be told.

Well, I’ve never been one to refuse a challenge, so here we go!