From Advocacy Campaigns to Advocacy Documentary Filmmaking: The Mission Behind Afterlife Films

Meet The Founder of Afterlife Films, An Advocacy Documentary Firm.

It all started during the height of the pandemic in 2020 when the world was in lockdown. I got a call from an assistant asking if I was interested in working for a P.R. firm. With nothing else to do, I accepted, and by the end of 2021 I had netted over $20,000 and worked my way through several social campaigns, all by the age of 20.

From my time working with this advocacy firm, as well as having direct access to the CEO who later became my business mentor, I learned several key principles about advocacy campaigns that I later applied to my own advocacy documentary studio, Afterlife Films. By 2026, I had netted roughly $100,000 and reinvested nearly every cent into building my own firm, because I realized there was an untapped market that no other studio had fully addressed. Although I had long considered starting an advocacy film studio, what ultimately pushed me to commit was a personal fight for accountability.

On my way to work, my cat was tragically killed when a construction crew’s negligence allowed a dangerous, unleashed German Shepherd to enter my yard and attack my cat. What troubled me most was that the owner never reached out to apologize, initially denied responsibility, and attempted to dismiss what had occurred. After pursuing legal action, my lawyer discovered the owner is a successful business entrepreneur who owns multiple restaurant locations.

In another context, I would have considered launching a strategic PR campaign to raise awareness of negligence, including organized protest efforts across business locations. However, I quickly recognized the practical limitations of that approach. A traditional campaign requires massive personal time, coordination, and ongoing logistical management. Deploying protestors across multiple locations can cost thousands of dollars per day, and sustaining momentum long enough to achieve meaningful attention is extremely difficult for most individuals while balancing work and daily responsibilities.

I reflected on my own skills and experience in both film and public relations. My first documentary, a film about gentrification, reached over 300,000 views, and I had already led numerous PR campaigns at the advocacy firm where I worked. I decided to combine both skill sets through Afterlife Films.

As part of the research process, I spoke with neighborhood residents who had their own problems involving the construction crew and collected firsthand accounts from witnesses to the incident. One neighbor’s live security camera captured the attack on my cat, which I incorporated into a 30 minute documentary short designed to help audiences understand exactly what happened. The film brings together interviews, footage, and context.

Everything including community response, advocacy efforts, and key visual evidence was structured into one 30 minute documentary. What stood out to me most about advocacy in documentary form is its permanence. Unlike a traditional protest, which ends when people disperse, a documentary can be revisited, reshared, and broken into shorter clips for social media, allowing the message to reach new audiences over time. In that sense, the story, voices, and context continue to follow the issue wherever it goes.

We’ve completed a diverse range of documentary projects for clients facing different situations and objectives. Some choose not to publish their films at all, instead keeping them as structured records of events, research, and testimony for personal, legal, or strategic purposes. Most, however, use their films to hold individuals, organizations, or institutions accountable, or to amplify messages surrounding social causes. Whether you need an Afterlife documentary to investigate concerns around an animal facility, address a discrimination related situation, or to amplify an important social cause, Afterlife Films is built for that purpose.

Before founding Afterlife Films, I created documentary work that collectively reached millions of views. At Afterlife Films, production services start at a baseline of $20,000. While this is a significant investment, it reflects a fully managed production process from start to finish including travel logistics, coordinating interviews and firsthand witnesses, securing necessary permits, filming, editing, investigative development, and a targeted social media PR campaign following completion.

It’s important to note that Afterlife Films does not sell creative labor by the hour, passive cinematic entertainment, or operate on a freelance, case by case basis. Instead, you are investing in a fully produced documentary process designed to translate real world events and perspectives into a structured, impactful film.

We review all inquiries on a case by case basis.

If we’re the right fit for your project, you can send a direct email to the CEO here: khalifbradley101@gmail.com