I flew across the Atlantic for 24 hours to attend a film screening, and this is what I learned about B2C communications…
I’m sorry for baiting you with a headline so egregious it deserves posting on the r/LinkedInLunatics subreddit. But while I have you here, I’d like to humbly brag about my recent ninja-strike trip to the United States.
The Backstory: In 2023, I produced a documentary for the European Space Agency’s Education Office about EIRSAT-1—the student team that built the first satellite that put Ireland on the spacefaring map, thanks to ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! programme. Titled ‘The Worst That Can Happen,’ this 22-minute short captured the sweat, history, and underdog dreams of the team through a mix of raw interviews and creative editing. It’s an inspiring story about chasing ‘the first’ against a backdrop of clean rooms and a sheep farm. I felt it was a story that would resonate with anyone, far beyond the Emerald Isle.
Flash forward to 2025, and we were happily proven right. At ESA Education we spotted an open call for educational shorts for SXSW EDU 2026. For the uninitiated, SXSW (South by Southwest) is the legendary Austin-based pilgrimage for music, tech, and media. Its educational offshoot, SXSW EDU, gathers educators and policymakers to discuss learning and its social impact. Just before Christmas, I got the word: we were selected!
With the full support of EJR-Quartz (who generously funded this 72-hour tactical mission), and ESA’s green light to share my experience in the making of this film, I embarked on a whirlwind 3-day trip. I flew to Austin, attended the screening, answered some lovely questions from an enthusiastic audience, and headed straight back to the airport. While I managed to cancel out the jetlag, I cannot recommend two back-to-back international flights.
Over 100 people joined us to watch ‘The Worst That Can Happen’ alongside two other brilliant shorts: ‘When I Talk I Stutter’, a moving animated piece about a young man’s journey with disfluency, and ‘CB: Power to the Player’, a chronicle of Duke University’s first Black basketball player and activist, CB Claiborne.
There is no thrill quite like sitting in a dark room while an audience watches something you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and soul into. To my delight, there were far more moments of laughter than I anticipated. The crowd was entertained!
During the Q&A, we were asked two poignant questions: Why did we (ESA) feel this was an important story to tell? and If we had a feature-length budget, what would we explore further? But the best praise came from an audience member afterward who noted that “the personalities really shined through.”
When making films about space, it is easy to focus on the machinery—the cold, hard engineering brilliance. This usually comes at the expense of the people involved and, ultimately, the public’s “buy-in.” When you focus on technical specs or funding sources, you lose the mainstream audience. We are social creatures; we need to see ourselves in others to feel invested.
When I first joined the communications campaign for this mission, I wasn’t captivated by the 2-unit CubeSat (forgive me, I’m from a non-engineering background). I was captivated by the humans. Not just the Irish students, but my own colleagues at ESA Education who helped push this mission toward the stars.
There was some discussion around whether this very specific mission to Ireland would have the potential to resonate with others. But a people-driven story transcends borders. Whether you’re in Dublin or Dallas, everyone wants to cheer for a person with passion, resilience, and a dream. The fact that our little European film was embraced by an international, American audience too, is proof of that.
‘The Worst That Can Happen’ is a success in “corporate storytelling” precisely because it prioritized people over hardware. If your goal is to promote a client’s activity, keep it human-centered. In the age of AI, that’s going to be the only currency that matters.
