We produce documentary films and animations, organise street art workshops, produce large-scale murals, and work with journalists and documentary filmmakers around the world. Over the past ten years we have worked in more than 30 countries, reaching hundreds of millions of people.

Off-Centre Productions was founded in 2010 by Maziar Bahari, an award-winning Iranian-Canadian journalist and filmmaker. Maziar worked with Newsweek from 1998 to 2011 and was the subject of the 2014 film Rosewater, directed by Jon Stewart. Read more about his work here. 

We produce short and feature-length documentaries, news reports, PSAs and animations. Our films have covered such diverse topics as Holocaust-era heroes in Bosnia and France, Iranian serial killers and football players, Burundi drummers, and Covid-19 disinformation campaigns in Argentina and Venezuela. We have worked with prominent broadcasters and organisations including the BBC, Channel 4, HBO and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Our productions have been featured in more than 50 international festivals. 

We have a dedicated team of producers, writers, directors and camera operators who can help you share your message and reach audiences worldwide. We work in ten languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, English, French, German, Hausa, Kurdish, Persian, Spanish and Swahili. 

We can help you better understand your market, your audience and your needs, whether you want to communicate with specific groups in different parts of the world or address diverse communities in North America and Europe. Our team is experienced in producing videos in a range of formats for different platforms to cater to the specific audience you want to address. We can also help you with social media strategies for video campaigns. And our comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system allows you to assess the impact of the projects.

Visit our Films page for more details.

Workshops and murals for social justice 

Our art and social justice workshops have engaged people around the world, motivating them to express their ideas and emotions in bold works of public art. These murals give voice to our participants, helping diverse communities to find a shared identity and a common sense of place.

We have produced over 50 murals in different cities across the globe. 

“I usually don’t like to go to workshops. But Paint the Change’s workshop allowed me to express myself and ideas through art. I really enjoyed it,” Ava, 14, workshop participant, East London.  

Through our workshops, expert artists and facilitators involve young people in a meaningful exploration of issues like racism, diversity, the right to education, religious freedom and the environment. 

“The workshop helps us young people to express ourselves better, get to know each other better and be better persons,” Jason, 16, workshop participant, West London.

This enables young people from different backgrounds to express their opinions  and  communicate with each other. They work together to express ideas they feel strongly about – from mental health to bullying to diversity. This group effort translates individual concepts into a public artwork that forms part of the fabric and history of their neighbourhood. 

We record each step in this process as professional media producers, presenting the stories in short videos on social media, and as long-form documentary films.

Collaborations

We help companies, nonprofits and creative agencies to work with communities and express positive messages through Paint the Change workshops and murals. Contact us to explore the possibilities for your organisation or brand.

We help nonprofits by organising workshops that help achieve their goals and promote their mission. Our well-developed curriculum can be adapted to different issues, and run for a few days or several weeks. The resulting public art and videos about the process are powerful tools for NGOs to feature in their communications, and to present in future presentations  of their work. 

Creative agencies can work with our team to co-create a distinctive brand activation or campaign with lasting impact - both visual and social. Alongside original artwork, we create stills and video from our in-person and digital workshops that enliven social platforms and websites, generating interest through networks and traditional media.

Companies can support our workshops and murals in different communities as part of their ESG or CSR programme. Corporate staff can take part in the workshops themselves, to engage with community members and exchange ideas, and we can also work with corporates on their creative retreats. Through our workshops corporate clients can learn more about the corporation's mission and values by taking part in the workshops or watching videos about experience. 

If your corporate client wants to celebrate a landmark event or promote a campaign, we can help you engage your staff and clients in the design process, under the supervision of a professional artist. Our gigantic 200 Nationalities, One NHS mural was created by hundreds of people in East London.

While our workshops provide brands with the visual assets they need for their campaigns, we advise against using street art as a form of direct product advertising. This is controversial amongst the street artists and can be counterproductive. Instead, brands can place their logos on the murals they support, and can be featured in the publicity surrounding them. Sponsoring workshops and artists as an integral part of campaigns can also help brands directly interact with communities, understand their needs and become part of a neighbourhood’s identity.

See our artwork on streets around the globe, from East London and Harlem to Sao Paolo and South Africa.

Visit Paint the Change for more details.

We believe in the power of character-based stories and good storytelling. We practice modern, innovative journalism that is relevant to younger audiences, and engages and educates them. We use animations, cartoons, comic books, data visualisations, and videos in our projects. Our team oversees all aspects of site design, development and content.

Off-Centre has worked on several journalistic projects in different countries, including:

Health Studio, a news website dedicated to fighting misinformation about coronavirus and public health.

IranWire, one of the most popular news and features websites about Iran, which is published in seven different languages.

Journalism Is Not A Crime, a project dedicated to reporting on the persecution of journalists and offering legal and psychological assistance to persecuted journalists.

Race Unity, a website dedicated to promoting dialogue between people from different backgrounds in the United States.

We have also trained more than 3,000 citizen journalists over the past ten years.

Visit out Journalism page for more details.

Click here for our open positions.