The Invisible Heart SIBs film premiers in UK today

The Invisible Heart, the first feature-length documentary film about social impact bonds, premiers in the UK today.

The film launched earlier this year in Canada aiming to track "the birth of a new financial market", debating whether social impact bonds, "an unorthodox marriage between capitalism and charity", can fulfil their promise to solve society's most complex, intractable problems.

It features insights from social investment pioneer Sir Ronald Cohen, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation's Caroline Mason and a host of other academics and commentators. However, the real star of the film is four-year-old Reginald (pictured above with his mother LaTonya) from Chicago.

Reginald's older brother Jaylin was shot dead outside his flat and Reginald is taking part in a social impact bond-funded educactional programme for pre-schoolers. The film asks whether this support – funded by Goldman Sachs and billionaire venture capitalist and philanthropist JB Pritzker – will help him overcome his tough start in life, and whether the funders will make a profit on their investment.

The premiere is hosted by the Blavatnik School of Government and the Government Outcomes Lab at the Phoenix Picturehouse cinema in Oxford at 4pm, followed by a panel discussion which will be livestreamed here.

Here's the trailer...