VIDEO PRODUCTION

Aaron Soffin produces videos for non-profits. These videos are designed to educate, recruit, and fundraise, as they share the stories and impacts of these organizations. Working with organizations ranging from medical clinics to teacher training programs and international charities, Aaron harnesses a documentary mindset, bringing the viewer into the lives of those supported by the organizations’ work. Aaron collaborates closely with stakeholders to find the right individuals and voices to convey the organizations’ mission, hone the messaging, and ultimately bring the organizations’ stories to life on screen.

Explore Aaron’s non-profit client videos below.

Mindful Schools Series

Produced, filmed and edited by Aaron Soffin, 4 part-series, 2017.

This series explores the impact that mindfulness has had on Ms. O and her students at Gateway High School in San Francisco. In Part 1, “Arrive,” which is presented here, Ms. O guides her students in a simple mindfulness meditation practice that enables students to quiet their nervous systems and get ready to learn.

You can watch the rest of the series at the below links:

Part 2: “What is Mindfulness?”
Part 3: “I am Mindful”
Part 4: “Mindfulness and Me”

BVMI: A Culture of Caring

Produced, filmed and edited by Aaron Soffin, 7 minutes, 2012.

The Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative, Inc., is a volunteer nonprofit organization providing free primary and preventive medical care to low-income working people in Bergen County without insurance or the means to pay for care.

This video, created to bolster fundraising at BVMI’s annual gala and through its website, shares the stories of patients whose lives have been altered by BVMI’s care.

Jewish Helping Hands Series

Produced, filmed and edited by Aaron Soffin, 3-part series, 2005-2011.

Over the course of six years, Aaron profiled three different projects of the foundation, Jewish Helping Hands. “If I Can Survive,” presented here, follows a group from JHH traveling to Cambodia on an aid mission. Inspired by the hope and courage of the children of the Cambodian genocide, a genocide most of them barely knew occurred, they begin to support two educational projects - raising money to build a school in the poor provinces through Cambodia Schools and supporting a program that enables orphans to be raised by foster families.

You can also watch “Four Months Later,” a film about the group’s work to contribute to the rebuilding effort four months after Hurricane Katrina, and “The Gospel of Propane,” a profile of Minister Steven Brigham’s work with homeless communities in and around Lakewood, NJ.

The G Train Workout Plan

Written, directed, filmed and edited by Aaron Soffin, 1 minute, 2013.

Riders Alliance is a New York nonprofit advocating for the improvement of the subways and the rights of subway riders. This short spoof was created to support the organization’s campaign to raise awareness about service problems on the G Train, widely believed to be the worst train line in New York.

V-Day: Building the City of Joy

Edited by Aaron Soffin, 3 minutes, 2010.

The City of Joy, a project of the Fondation Panzi (DRC) and V-Day, is a transformational leadership community for women survivors of violence, located in Bukavu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Conceived, owned, and run by local Congolese, the City of Joy has flourished since it first opened its doors in June 2011, healing women from their past trauma through therapy and life skills programming while providing them with the essential ingredients needed to move forward in life – love and community.

This video was created to help complete fundraising in advance of the City of Joy’s opening.

Global Grassroots Series

Filmed and edited by Aaron Soffin, 2-part series, 2010.

This series profiles two projects in Rwanda supported by the non-profit Global Grassroots.

The Abanyamurava - Hard Workers project, profiled in the video here, provides water daily to 100 households, with over 800 people. The Let Us Build Ourselves project (watch the video here) is working closely with 50 women in order to offer a truly comprehensive educational experience during their first year of operation.

Voices of Rwanda

For a year in 2008-2009, living in Rwanda, Aaron produced, conducted, filmed and edited testimony interviews of Rwandan genocide survivors for Voices of Rwanda, an oral history project committed to ensuring that survivor stories inform the world about genocide and inspire a global sense of responsibility to prevent human rights atrocities.

This video includes excerpts of testimony interviews with Claudine and Adele. It contains graphic descriptions of violence.