Who we are

Films for Humanity is a film studio built around a simple idea: that the causes with the least money often have the most urgent stories, and that drama reaches people in a way a campaign leaflet never will.

We produce scripted films — written and directed in-house — anchored to real social issues and real charities. Small charities receive our films free of charge. Corporate sponsorship and commissioned work fund everything.

Since 2019 we have made six films on mental health, domestic violence, drunk driving, anxiety, racial injustice and conversion therapy, reaching an audience of more than 148,000 and 1,400 students in UK schools.

Why we exist

Films for Humanity was founded by writer-director Stéphanie Tumba.

She is the eldest of six children, and took on a caregiving role from a young age — not only at home, but in how she saw the world around her. As a child she asked her mother why a homeless man could not simply come and stay with them; there was space, so why not. That instinct — to care, to include, to notice who has been left out — never left her.

She has also written stories for as long as she can remember. Writing was how she made sense of things, and eventually how she helped others make sense of things too.

The two came together in 2019. After learning of a young girl who died by suicide following online bullying, she wrote and produced a short film, As I Am, for Mental Health Awareness Week. It was meant as a one-off. Instead it revealed something: that a story could reach people who would never read a report, and move them in a way statistics could not.

Between 2019 and 2023 she kept making films tied to pressing social issues, each connected to a small charity. The pandemic sharpened the need — grassroots organisations were disappearing, and the ones that survived had no budget to be seen. What began as a passion became a studio.

Films for Humanity was incorporated as a Community Interest Company in 2023, and rebranded from Filming for Humanity in 2026.

What we stand for

✅ Charities
Free films for causes that cannot afford to be seen. Small registered charities and non-profits receive a professionally produced film at no cost, through our Impact Films Programme.

✅ Arts
A first platform for emerging talent. More than [X] actors have appeared in our films since 2019, many taking one of their first on-screen roles — alongside crew, editors, composers and makeup artists building their careers.

✅ Communities
The places we film in matter. We work with local venues, businesses and communities, and the stories we tell are rooted in the towns and neighbourhoods where they happen.

✅ Education
Impact beyond the screen. We deliver talks, screenings and educational toolkits in schools, and have reached over 1,400 students with work on resilience, mental health and social justice.

✅ Inclusion
Stories that reflect the full richness of the communities we serve — in front of the camera and behind it. We are committed to giving women and underrepresented voices a place in an industry that has too often excluded them.

How we are structured

Films for Humanity is a registered Community Interest Company (number 14944431), not a conventional production company.

A CIC exists to serve a community purpose. Ours is locked in: we are bound by a community interest statement and an asset lock, which legally commits our assets and any surplus to our social mission. Everything commercial we do — sponsorship, commissions, pricing, growth — exists to fund that purpose.

Revenue is the means. Community benefit is the end.