Storytelling for Change: A Filmmaking Campaign

Visit UBC Migration on YouTube for a playlist of all the films!

This filmmaking campaign has now ended. Thank you to all the youth who submitted.

Calling all youth creators across Canada! Share your story by making a short film this summer.

We invite you to make a short 30–180 second film, offering the following ideas as possible topics.

POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR FILMS

What does belonging mean to you?
How do you think about diversity?
What actions can we take to resist injustice and racism and strive for different worlds?
Share about a time when you navigated a personal journey of starting over. In what ways do you derive strength and wisdom from this experience?
Share about a time when you sought connection with others. This connection seeking could be from long ago or still ongoing. What was important to you about this sense of connection?
Share lessons from your experience: Show how you understand belonging, diversity, social justice, personal journeys, or community in times of crisis or in times of peace.

FORMATS

All formats are encouraged. Ideas for format include selfie-style, documentary-style, claymation, or animation, which can include verbal narration, text-based narration, a combination of the two, or imagery only.

ACCESSIBILITY

Videos can be made with your smartphone, computer webcam, tablet, animation tool or any other programs online. Your video will stand out based on the choices you make about how you tell your story.

Youth who are lacking access to equipment can apply to our equipment fund. Please send an email to Rama Hamid, Video Project Coordinator, at (rama.hamid@ubc.ca) to share your interest in having access to filmmaking equipment, using the subject line Storytelling for Change: Equipment Fund.

CAMPAIGN GUIDELINES

Age: All self-identified youth
Location: Open to all residents of Canada, excluding the Province of Quebec.
Languages: English, French, and additional languages are welcome. If your video is not in French or English, please include French or English subtitles (or request help with translation in the submission form).
Length: 30–180 seconds
Content: Films should be about one or more of the campaign topics, outlined above. Content should be generated by you and attributed correctly (e.g., listed under a Creative Commons license when content is reused or remixed).
Privacy: Share your story in a way that does not disclose personal information (for instance, home address or school). For an introduction to thinking about privacy, check out the graphic novel Social Smarts. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting your digital identity, take a look at the University of British Columbia’s resources: Digital Tattoo.
Permissions: All people appearing in your film, including yourself, are required to sign this Consent to Use of Image form. Please upload signed consent form(s) into the submission form, linked below.
Submission: First, upload your film to YouTube, Vimeo, or send to us via Dropbox (see submission form for instructions). Next, to submit your film to this campaign, please complete this form. Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2020, 11:59pm anywhere in Canada.
Campaign Rules: For a summary of the official campaign rules, you may refer to this document.

PRIZES

Grand prizes will be offered to the top three short films. The value of all three Prizes are $1000 in total ($500 for first prize, $300 for second prize, and $200 for third prize). Prizes will include, as examples, filmmaking equipment such as a camera, microphone, lights, tripod, and software licenses, or time with an established filmmaker. Following the deadline, the campaign organizers will provide updates on next steps in their process of reviewing films and awarding prizes.

Watch this space for more details on prizes coming soon!

CRITERIA FOR AWARDING PRIZES

Reflection on one or more of the campaign topics.
Creativity and clarity: Your film will be assessed based on the way you tell your story, rather than the equipment and software you used.
Attention to detail in your storytelling, production, direction, and editing choices.

MENTORSHIP SESSIONS

Video recordings of the virtual mentorship sessions with Project Coordinator, Rama Hamid, and experts from the filmmaking community are below:

Storytelling & Production: Storytelling for Change Webinar
Led by Suparna Gupta, Adetola Tamunokubie, and Rama Hamid
Watch the recording below:

Direction & Editing: Storytelling for Change Webinar
Led by Lama Alrakad, Lara Şarlak, and Rama Hamid
Watch the recording below:

MENTORS

A range of established professionals with backgrounds in filmmaking, media, storytelling, and community engagement are leading virtual mentorship sessions. The following expert mentors will offer their guidance on aspects of the filmmaking process, and will engage in a Q&A session during the webinars:

SUPARNA GUPTA

Suparna Gupta is working in communications for the City of Vancouver, MOSAIC, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, and 10 settlement agencies. Suparna completed her studies in Marketing Management from Langara College in 2019. She has been passionately working in Digital Marketing for years. Suparna also has a Mechanical Engineering background and has worked with the automobile giant Suzuki in India. She is an avid reader and has a command over four languages.

Suparna’s current project “Reach Out” helps newcomers find support to settle in the city and aims to work with long term Vancouver residents as a channel to connect with newcomers. Suparna is a part of the Leaders of Tomorrow program organized by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and is volunteering for their communications team. She has also been a former Board Member and Marketing Director for the Punjabi Market Regenerative Collective, a group of professionals, artists, entrepreneurs and advocates who are working towards revitalizing Vancouver’s historic Punjabi Market. Suparna is passionate about community engagement and development.

ADETOLA TAMUNOKUBIE

Adetola Tamunokubie is a movie and content producer, media practitioner, and marketing specialist. Adetola has an undying love for exceptional radio, television, and film production. She has produced dramas, talk shows, and other entertainment programs with content running on stations across Nigeria and other African countries.

She is an associate member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), as well as a member of the Electronic Media and Content Owners Association of Nigeria (EMCOAN). Adetola also has a degree in chemical engineering technology. She is a founding partner at Eltee Media Services and has been in the media industry for over 15 years. Adetola is happily married with three lovely children.

LAMA ALKARAD

Lama Alkarad earned her graduate degree in Theatre Directing in Russia. Following her education, Lama served as a theatre director in Syria. While working in Syria, she honed her television and film directing skills and continued her studies. Lama’s first television and movie industry job was at an educational television channel in Syria. Over the next several years, Lama took the lead on directing a range of television programs. During her time as a television director, Lama developed independent documentary films, and worked as a freelance filmmaker.

Lama has been involved in the film industry in various ways, having taught as a drama and television directing instructor in Syria and as a drama instructor in Canada. After her immigration to Canada, Lama decided to build further experience in visual effects for film. During her extensive career Lama has directed more than 30 documentary films, series, and many live shows.

LARA ŞARLAK

Lara Şarlak’s research focuses on the role of migrants and refugees in transforming the urban infrastructure of her hometown Istanbul, Turkey. Informed by various anthropological perspectives, Lara is drawn to question how (im)mobility shapes material, spatial and technological arrangements of the city, which are also linked to broader issues of citizenship and sovereignty.

Lara received an MA degree in Anthropology of Media at SOAS, University of London and a BA in Sociology and Media & Visual Arts at Koc University. As a researcher and videographer, Lara strives to incorporate her audiovisual skills into ethnography in a publicly accessible way.

CAMPAIGN ORGANIZERS

The Storytelling for Change campaign is coordinated and funded by the Community-UBC Refugee & Migration Working Group. The Working Group is a collective of UBC staff and students and staff from settlement organizations in Metro Vancouver who are interested in amplifying newcomer and non-newcomer youth voices as part of its commitment to broadening narratives of diversity, immigration, and settlement in Canada.