Films for social change: Sustainable development and documentaries

This research aims to explain the relationship of documentary films with Sustainable Development Goals as a means of producing social reality related to development; also to reveal the link between the content and approach features of documentary films in terms of advocacy. The theoretical basis of the research includes the construction of social reality and communication for development approaches, as well as the possibilities offered by documentary films for communication for development within the framework of sustainable development. The research is designed as an embedded mixed-method study in order to reveal; what kind of suggestions do the documentary films produced in Turkey have regarding the concept of sustainable development, what kind of relations can be established between the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and documentary films, and how documentary films can contribute to awareness for sustainable development issues. According to the results of this research, it was observed that documentaries, owing to their functions of providing visibility and raising awareness, facilitate the establishment of links between seemingly independent fields of sustainable development. Also, the research proved that documentaries are suitable tools for expressing the need for change for the problematic areas of development and contributing to the construction of social reality regarding these areas. In addition to these results, it has been concluded that documentary films can contribute to producing solutions and raising awareness about problematic areas of sustainable development, in line with the opportunities they have in terms of participation and advocacy.