Documentary Missão Catió
Category:
Production | Cinematography | Editing | Sound Design
Client:
NGO - Na Rota dos Povos
Software:
Premier
Project
For my final project in Communication Design and Audiovisual Production, I created Missão CATIÓ, a documentary for the Portuguese NGO Na Rota dos Povos.
The organisation works in Catió, in the Tombali region of Guinea-Bissau, supporting local communities through projects centred around education, health and social development.
I travelled to Catió to document the organisation's work on the ground and transform that experience into an audiovisual piece that could communicate its mission to a wider audience.
The documentary was created to reduce the distance between the people supporting the organisation in Portugal and the reality of its work in Guinea-Bissau.
One of the main objectives was to give existing supporters the opportunity to see where their contributions were going and how that support was being transformed into concrete actions.
At the same time, the documentary needed to introduce Na Rota dos Povos to people who did not yet know the organisation and communicate why its work in Catió mattered.
Rather than presenting facts and numbers alone, I wanted to use people, places and everyday experiences to create a more direct and human connection with the audience.
Approach
I approached the project as both a filmmaker and a visual communicator.
The documentary combined observation, interviews and images of everyday life with the work being carried out by Na Rota dos Povos. My focus was not only on explaining what the organisation was doing, but on showing the context in which that work existed.
I wanted the audience to experience Catió through the people who lived and worked there rather than simply being told about it.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges was representing a reality very different from my own in a way that felt respectful and authentic.
The documentary needed to communicate the need for the organisation's work without reducing the people of Catió to that need. It was important for me to portray individuals and communities as people with their own voices, personalities and lives rather than simply as recipients of humanitarian support.
Another challenge was transforming a large amount of footage, experiences and information into one coherent narrative.
The final piece needed to work on several levels at once: document the mission, explain the organisation's purpose, acknowledge the people supporting it and create an emotional connection strong enough to engage potential new supporters.
Results
Missão CATIÓ became an audiovisual communication piece that allowed Na Rota dos Povos to make the impact of its work more visible.
Instead of supporters only hearing about projects from a distance, the documentary could bring them into the environments where that support was being implemented and introduce them to some of the people behind the organisation's work.
The project also demonstrated how documentary filmmaking can become a communication tool for organisations whose stories are difficult to communicate through traditional promotional material alone.
