Catalyst is a Toronto-based content company for women creators. Knix is a direct-to-consumer intimate apparel company. The two brands have announced the launch of The Knix Fund Catalyst Docs for Change Project. By partnering with like-minded filmmakers, the initiative will fully fund eye-opening feature documentaries about issues and stories that matter and speak to women, with the aim of igniting meaningful dialogue, breaking historical barriers, ending stigma, and mobilizing change.
The Knix Fund Catalyst Docs for Change Project will officially launch at the Banff World Media Festival, which opens on June 11th. Then, Knix Founder & President Joanna Griffiths and Catalyst founder Julie Bristow will participate in a moderated conversation on June 14, during which the project’s objectives will be explained and explored. The project will be open for submissions and Catalyst/Knix will then commission the most promising one and move it into production and distribution.
Both the entertainment and intimate apparel industries center around ideals and behaviors that are not true to women’s voices and stories.
This project was born out of a mutual desire to expand on the idea that representation matters in all forms and spaces and that for meaningful change to happen, conversations need to take place that lead to action. Catalyst is a company founded in response to gender inequality in its industry – where only 25% of content is created by women despite representing half the audience. The proven power of film to act as a driving force for change makes this medium especially interesting to Knix and its founder as they continue to build on the work they have done to break barriers, end stigma and build community in many areas including body diversity, age, fertility, female entrepreneurship, and menstruation to name a few.
“As a brand we view ourselves as storytellers and know the impact that storytelling can have on how we view the world and see ourselves. This initiative will help us make a lasting impact on some of the overlooked issues affecting women and help spark the conversations that need to be happening now. I am so proud to be starting this important journey in uncovering the untold stories that affect women and helping them get the attention, focus and importantly financing they need to come to life,” says Joanna Griffiths.
“The values of Knix and the thought-leadership that Joanna has provided on so many women’s issues align perfectly with Catalyst’s mission to open eyes, minds, and hearts with unapologetically brilliant storytelling by and about women. To achieve a more inclusive world, we need more stories led by women creators. Sometimes the only way to catalyze change is to challenge legacy business models by investing in new paradigms. This partnership does just that.
“We will ensure to tell important stories by financing them,” says Catalyst Founder Julie Bristow.
The Feature Doc Project reunites Griffiths and Bristow, who worked together at CBC in the early 2000s and have continued to support each other’s entrepreneurial endeavors. Both women, together and separately, invest in early-stage companies helmed by female entrepreneurs.
Do stories of women empowerment initiatives interest you? Read The Empowerment Project: 5 Women, A Minivan And 7,000 Miles In 30 Days, the incredible journey of five female filmmakers who travel across the United States in search of inspirational women.
About Catalyst
Catalyst is a mission-driven, for-profit business dedicated to catalyzing the creation of commercially viable content for an underserved global market by powering women creators and investing in their ideas. Catalyst partners with women creators and producers to advance their projects from inception through to full monetization of content. The company invests strategic, business, and creative power in the best ideas.
About Knix
Knix is a direct-to-consumer intimates and apparel brand. Through innovative products and a community-first approach, Knix is on a mission to empower people everywhere to live unapologetically free. Every product, campaign and image that Knix puts into the world ties to this mission. Founded in 2013, by Joanna Griffiths, Knix is one of the fastest-growing DTC brands in North America and is globally recognized as an innovator and disrupter within the apparel space.
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