company

We make narrative and documentary video and write code.

history

From 2007 to 2010, smallpower was based in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. While we were there, we made, marketed, and distributed music, music videos, a documentary, a concert film, and a television show. We also produced live concerts, theatrical performances, and public screenings of our work.

The work we did in the DRC addressed social issues around HIV/AIDS, sexual and gender-based violence, and conflict resolution.

An archive of our site from that time is available here.

people

Ben Olander is a co-founder of smallpower, where he is a writer, director, designer and show runner. Ben ran the HIV/AIDS platform for PSI (Population Services International) in the Democratic Republic of Congo and worked with a microfinance bank for UK-based VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) in Cameroon. Ben also has an extensive background in new media as the co-founder of San Francisco-based Angry Monkey and the former Executive Creative Director at web-development agency Organic.

Tomas Apodaca (website) is a co-founder of smallpower, where he is a writer, director, and the technical lead. He worked at Stamen Design where he helped build sites and applications like cabspotting and the MoveOn.org national town hall map. He was a co-founder of the web development, entertainment, and R&D company Angry Monkey.

smallpower.org

The generative smallpower logo on this site was coded in Processing.js. The logo is based on a design by Gillian Evans (pdf). This site is running on the Stacey content management system.

contact

We're based in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can reach us at info@smallpower.org

alumni

Tunga Mbia was smallpower’s Executive Producer. She’s worked behind the camera, as a documentary director (Miseducating the World: The Misrepresentation of Africans in the Media), and a production assistant for 40 Acres and a Mule. She’s also worked in front of the camera, as a presenter for Imagine Afrika, a pan-African reality show, and as a VJ for MTV Europe.