Every community has a story worth acting on.

Docs4Change helps communities turn urgent challenges into documentary-driven action — connecting local voices with filmmakers ready to listen, investigate, and move people.

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The BOUNTY Project: A Return to Lopez Island

In 2016, a three-year community project brought together the Lopez Community Land Trust and Lopez Locavores to document 28 Lopez Island farms and farmers through photographs, profiles, and recipes. The book Bounty: Lopez Island Farmers, Food, and Community was born from a simple question: "What do you know about the farms that feed you?"

The original BOUNTY project was intended to preserve and celebrate Lopez's local farming legacy. Iris Graville's profiles asked what it takes to bring food "from earth to table" on Lopez. One farmer's vision captured the spirit of the entire effort:

"Our dream is the community will feed itself." — Henning Sehmsdorf

Ten Years Later

Now, a decade after BOUNTY documented the farmers who were feeding Lopez, we return to find out what happened to them — and whether Lopez can still feed itself.

The documentary begins with Ken and Katherine and their horse-drawn farm, immediately establishing the human connection to the land. From there, we follow the thread: Who is still farming? Who has left? And can the next generation afford to stay?

This is not simply a profile documentary. BOUNTY becomes the historical baseline, and our film becomes the 2026 follow-up — a story about resilience, loss, and the future of farming on an island that once dreamed of feeding itself.

How Change Moves

From a local concern to a shared call for action — Docs4Change follows a clear path that turns community voices into documentary-driven impact.

Name the Challenge

Communities bring forward the questions, pressures, and possibilities that deserve attention.

Develop the Story

Filmmakers and local partners shape a truthful, human-centered documentary response.

Gather Public Action

Screenings, conversations, and practical next steps help a story travel beyond the frame.

Step 01

Name the Challenge

Communities bring forward the questions, pressures, and possibilities that deserve attention. Every documentary starts with a local concern — a challenge that matters to the people who live it.

Step 02

Develop the Story

Filmmakers and local partners shape a truthful, human-centered documentary response. Together, they develop the story — turning a community's challenge into a documentary built to move people.

Human-Centered

Stories grounded in real voices and lived experience.

Collaborative

Filmmakers work alongside local partners at every stage.

Step 03

Gather Public Action

Screenings, conversations, and practical next steps help a story travel beyond the frame. A documentary can change the terms of a conversation — and Docs4Change is built to support that movement from local concern to shared call for action.

Screenings

Bring communities together to watch and respond.

Conversations

Spark dialogue that moves beyond the frame.

Next Steps

Turn stories into practical, shared action.

Stories in Motion

A preview of the kinds of community-led work Docs4Change is built to support — from local concerns to shared calls for action.

Community Challenges

Communities bring forward the questions, pressures, and possibilities that deserve attention.

Filmmaker Partnerships

Filmmakers and local partners shape a truthful, human-centered documentary response.

Public Conversations

Screenings, conversations, and practical next steps help a story travel beyond the frame.

A documentary can change the terms of a conversation.

42

Community Challenges

surfaced

18

Story Partners

convened

9

Public Conversations

sparked

Preview figures shown for design only. Verified impact reporting will be added with future stories.

What Docs4Change Is Built For

Docs4Change helps communities turn urgent challenges into documentary-driven action.

Community-Led

Communities bring forward the questions, pressures, and possibilities that deserve attention.

Documentary-Driven

Filmmakers and local partners shape a truthful, human-centered documentary response.

Action-Oriented

Screenings, conversations, and practical next steps help a story travel beyond the frame.

Bring Forward a Story That Needs to Move

Docs4Change is a community documentary network built to support local voices. If your community has a challenge that deserves attention, submit it — and connect with filmmakers ready to listen, investigate, and move people.

Submit a Challenge

Share the questions, pressures, and possibilities your community faces.

Explore Stories

See the community-led work Docs4Change is built to support.

Learn About Impact

Discover how documentary-driven action changes conversations.

Start Here

Submit a Challenge

Communities bring forward the questions, pressures, and possibilities that deserve attention. Bring forward a story that needs to move.

Explore Docs4Change

  • How it works
  • Stories in motion
  • Impact

Docs4Change helps communities turn urgent challenges into documentary-driven action.

Pedro Augusto Leite Costa

Journalist & Documentary Filmmaker

Pedro Augusto Leite Costa is a Brazilian-American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and international communicator whose work explores the intersection of people, society, environment, and change.


Over a career spanning journalism, international relations, and documentary storytelling, Costa has reported on Brazil, the United States, and issues connecting communities across borders. His work as a journalist has taken him beyond headlines, focusing on the human stories behind political, economic, environmental, and social transformations.

As a documentary filmmaker, Costa is particularly interested in stories that might otherwise remain invisible: communities facing profound change, the future of farming, the relationship between people and nature, and the challenges created by economic and social transformation. His documentaries seek not simply to describe problems, but to give audiences a reason to care—and to imagine alternatives.

His approach is grounded in a simple belief:

“A documentary should not only show us what is happening. It should make us feel responsible for what happens next.”

Costa has also worked extensively in international business and public diplomacy, connecting Brazilian organizations, companies, communities, and institutions with partners in the United States and other countries.

Today, he combines journalism, filmmaking, and international collaboration to tell stories about people, places, and the choices that shape our common future.

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