Documentary Storytelling for a Company Trying to Solve the Canadian Housing Crisis

The Project

IGV Housing is reimagining how homes are built in Canada. Through proprietary offsite construction methods, they're producing homes that are more efficient to build, better suited to the Canadian climate, and genuinely beautiful to live in. Their ambition is large: to help solve the housing affordability crisis and open the market to a generation of Canadians who have been priced out of it.

That kind of mission requires more than a marketing campaign. It requires buy-in — from federal, provincial, and municipal policymakers; from developers; from the communities where IGV will operate; and from the individuals who might ultimately call one of their homes home.

IGV recognized that the conventional construction industry playbook wasn't going to cut it. They needed something more human, more story-driven. That's why they chose to work with Olam Films.

The Challenge

IGV needed to communicate across a remarkably wide range of audiences, each with different concerns and different levels of familiarity with what IGV is doing. Policymakers needed to understand the systemic case for offsite construction. Developers needed to understand the technical model and the business opportunity. Communities needed to feel reassured and excited. Future homeowners needed to feel something.

And layered underneath all of that: IGV also needed to explain its technology, its organizational approach, and the deep personal conviction that drives the people behind the company.

That's a lot of ground to cover — and it can't be covered with a single film or a single message. It required a thoughtful suite of content, each piece shaped for its audience, all of it rooted in the same authentic core.

The Approach

Olam Films brought a documentary filmmaker's instinct to the brief: before thinking about formats or scripts, we focused on understanding what IGV was actually trying to say and to whom.

Through careful interview development and on-camera direction, we helped IGV's team articulate their vision in ways that were clear, compelling, and genuinely story-forward — the kind of communication that moves people rather than just informing them. We identified the key messages for each stakeholder group and shaped each video around those without losing the human thread that connects them all.

The result is an ongoing series of films that collectively build IGV's story across audiences and contexts — from overview pieces that explain who IGV is and why they exist, to more targeted content addressing specific stakeholder concerns, to deeper dives into the technology and the mission.

The Result

IGV Housing has undergone significant transformation as a company during the time Olam Films has been working with them, and our storytelling has grown alongside that evolution. They have been happy enough with the partnership that they are looking to Olam Films as a long-term storytelling partner — not a one-off vendor — as they continue to scale their vision across Canada.

This is the kind of client relationship we value most: one where the work compounds over time, where we develop a deep understanding of the organization and its goals, and where our films are genuinely doing strategic work in the world.

The Films

IGV

What this project demonstrates

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  Narrative strategy for complex organizations — identifying what a company needs to say, to whom, and in what form

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  Multi-stakeholder content — building a suite of videos that speaks to policymakers, developers, communities, and consumers without losing coherence

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  Documentary method in a corporate context — using interview-driven, human-centred filmmaking to make technical and organizational concepts genuinely compelling

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  Long-term partnership — growing with a client over time, not just delivering a project and moving on

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  Mission alignment — working best when we believe in what our clients are building