about the film

Wheres My Goat?

Filmmaker Christopher Richardson buys goats for third world families as thank-you gifts for his commercial clients. It's a fresh approach to promotional giveaways, but as the list of gifted goats grows, some clients question the existence of their goat and whether ethical gifts have the impact Christopher hopes. So Christopher decides to travel to Zambia to track down a client's goat and discover for himself if he is being innovative or naïve. Are ethical gifts the positive developing world life-changers they are advertised to be?

Along the way he encounters both supporters and detractors of the ethical gift concept. But one question is paramount to him: "where's my goat?" Using humor, animation and a sincere desire to access whether his good faith gesture is truly making a difference, this filmmaker's search for "his" goat is a provocative, outside-the-box look at charity, western views of it and the impact a specific initiative might have.

Ultimately, Christopher’s quest for his goat drives the arc of the film’s argument: that a branded pen, a branded mug, a branded t-shirt is actually a missed opportunity to not only make a sale…but to make a difference. As fellow inhabitants of this planet, shouldn’t we work to find ways to leverage what we do here in the West in ways that benefit others in the developing world? Our landfills here are full of disposable trinkets that could have been opportunities to change a life over there...