22 February 2013
Newsdesk
Oxfam is looking for Coldplay fans to take part in a ground breaking global music project to campaign against one of the world’s greatest human injustices.
Coldplay’s music video and film director Mat Whitecross will curate an exclusive crowd sourced video stitching together thousands of pieces of film and photography submitted by fans and supporters to an incredible acoustic version of Coldplay’s famous track ‘In My Place’. The voices shared will become part of a unique music video to help the charity campaign to end the trauma inflicted on thousands of families because of land grabs.
Every year Governments, banks or private investors buy huge plots of land in some of the poorest countries in the world for profit. This land is often home to people who rely on it to grow food and feed their families. Thousands of families are being evicted from the land, leaving them homeless and with no means to piece their lives back together. Land grabs are forcing people and their possessions out, forcing them from the place they call home.
Mat Whitecross and Oxfam are encouraging dedicated Coldplay fans and friends of the charity to echo this idea of dislocation and displacement in their own way in the form of creative video or photographic content by 20 March 2013. People are being asked to move something favourite, personal or familiar from their home to somewhere it doesn’t belong. Alternatively, they could do something personal, everyday, familiar that they’d usually do at home, in totally the wrong place. For more information visit www.oxfam.org/inmyplacefilm.
Mat Whitecross says: “Having a home is hugely important for people to feel safe and in a place they can thrive, which is at the very heart of the song. I wanted to somehow create this feeling of people being out of place in order to illustrate the suffering that so many people experience because of land grabs.”
Oxfam is pioneering the approach of fan-sourcing for this global campaign film which will launch in April as the World Bank convenes its Annual Spring Meetings. The World Bank is in a unique position as an investor in land and an adviser to governments and companies on buying and selling land. With this film Oxfam wants to show world leaders that there is a growing global movement demanding decisive action to stop land grabs.
Mat Whitecross continues: “I have worked with Coldplay for a long time so know how dedicated and passionate their fans are. The idea of harnessing this to create an original and powerful crowd sourced campaigning tool is one I’m excited about.”
To submit your content today visit: www.oxfam.org/inmyplacefilm.
