The Gravediggers Tour

Penny Appeal Canada · 2026

How Aflak carried Dr. Norman Finkelstein's message and its weight, across four Canadian cities on a single national tour, without losing a frame or a beat between them.

CLIENT

Penny Appeal Canada

SCOPE

Event Photography · Video · Media Wall

YEAR

2026

DIVISION

Aflak Media

What we built, and why it mattered.

01 - OVERVIEW

CLIENT

Penny Appeal Canada — Humanitarian & Relief

Four event nights across two legs (Toronto & Mississauga in March; Edmonton & Vancouver in July) · 36–48 hour post-production turnaround per city

TIMELINE

Event Photography · Media Wall Portraiture · Recap Video · Ad-Ready Cutdowns

SERVICES APPLIED

Aflak crew including Asad Ilyas and Mucahit "Mert" Alagoz, deployed across all four cities

TEAM ON GROUND

Penny Appeal Canada brought Dr. Norman Finkelstein — the American political scientist and son of two Holocaust survivors — to four Canadian cities for The Gravediggers Tour, a speaking series built around his 2018 work on Gaza. Toronto and Mississauga opened the tour in Ontario; Edmonton and Vancouver carried it west months later. Each night followed the same structure: a Qur'an recitation, a Penny Appeal mission address, a live fundraising ask for the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health program in Palestine, and Dr. Finkelstein's keynote.

Aflak was on the ground for all four nights, delivering full photography, media wall portraiture, and recap video on tight, non-negotiable turnarounds — 36 hours for stills, 48 for video, every time. The real test wasn't any single night. It was making four cities, four months apart, read as one tour.

An elderly man with gray hair speaking into a microphone during a panel discussion or interview, sitting on an orange chair, wearing a gray blazer and a plaid shirt.

THE CHALLENGE

A scholar whose parents survived the Holocaust, speaking about Gaza, in front of rooms primed for high emotion and higher stakes — every frame needed to carry that weight without manufacturing it. And the tour itself worked against consistency: four cities, two provinces, a four-month gap between legs, and a keynote speaker who was camera-shy from night one. Nothing about the visual language, the talent handling, or the audio setup could be relearned from scratch each time it had to travel intact.

How we moved from brief to delivery.

02 - THE APPROACH

Before each stop, the production lead aligned directly with the PAC team on the ground — the evening's arc, who'd be in the room, and which moments carried real organizational weight. That groundwork is what let the same shot grammar and camera roles travel from Toronto to Vancouver without a re-brief.

01

ROOT · PRE-PRODUCTION

A continuously rolling wide master held the stage from welcome to Q&A with no gaps, while a floating camera committed to long, uninterrupted takes through every donation appeal and emotional beat. Dr. Finkelstein's camera-shy disposition — flagged after the very first night — was handled the same way every time: no ambush interviews, one low-pressure ask, ready to stand down gracefully. A dedicated media wall station ran in parallel for portraits.

02

BLOOM · PRODUCTION

The edit matched the register of the speaker and the cause — measured, deliberate, no imposed energy. Full photo albums and media wall portraits went out within 36 hours of each city; recap video, in landscape and vertical, within 48. Ad-ready donation-appeal cutdowns were cut per city, captioned and ready for paid media without further editing.

03

HARVEST · POST-PRODUCTION

All four cities' content was catalogued into one media bank, organised by city, deliverable type, and format. PAC's team is now building its ongoing fundraising ad strategy directly off that archive — the tour didn't end when the last Q&A did.

ARCHIVE & REUSE

04

Audience watching a presentation or event in a theater or auditorium with red seats and dim lighting.
A large conference room filled with people sitting at round tables, facing a stage with a large banner titled "The Humanitarian Review" and a speaker standing at a podium. The room has ornate ceiling details and hanging chandeliers.
A speaker is standing at a podium on a stage, addressing an audience for a Pennies Appeal Canada event. The background screen displays logos, a QR code with 'SCAN TO DONATE,' and text about Gaza's grave diggers by Norman G. Finkelstein. There are people sitting and listening attentively in a dark conference hall.
Two people smiling and laughing during a signing event with a dark backdrop featuring logos for Penny Appeal, Falah, and Collective Hour.

What the work produced, in numbers.

03 - THE RESULTS

300K+

Raised in donations across the tour

300+

Attendees per evening

14%

Increase in PAC's account engagement

4

Cities on a single tour — Toronto, Mississauga, Edmonton, Vancouver

"You understand the gravitas of the situation, and the respect it deserves. There is a sequence that needs to be built — and building a sequence takes a lot of understanding of what the storyline actually is along the line of the event. That is something you do very well."

Sumith · Events & Creative · Penny Appeal Canada

04 - DELIVERABLES

What was produced.

CINEMATIC EVENT FILM

FILM

Full recap in landscape and vertical formats per city, covering atmosphere, speakers, and audience — delivered post-produced and ready for organic and paid distribution.

CINEMATIC EVENT FILM

SOCIAL

3–4 ad-ready, captioned cutdowns per city (5–15s), sourced from live donation-appeal moments — vertical and square, paid-media ready.

PHOTOGRAPHY ALBUM

PHOTO

150+ retouched stills per city, curated into clearly labelled folders, delivered within 36 hours for immediate press and social use.

PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

PRESS

60+ branded media wall portraits per city, editorial-standard formatting, delivered for press releases and organizational comms.

ARCHIVED MEDIA BANK

CUSTOM

All four cities' raw and edited assets catalogued for long-term reuse — now feeding PAC's ongoing donation and awareness campaigns.

PLANT THE FIRST SEED

Let’s build yours

If your story deserves this kind of treatment, start with a 30-minute call. No deck required — bring the question, we'll bring the map.

BOOK A CALL →