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Gone in sixty seconds

Oneminutesjr. workshop films screened as part of Dubai International Film Festival

THE DUBAI International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the conclusion of the successful ‘OneMinutesJr’ video production workshop for youth in Cairo, bringing to a close its three-session partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The workshops were supported by DIFF, and sessions were held in Mumbai, Dubai and Cairo by adolescent filmmakers. The resulting videos can be seen on the DIFF website (www.dubaifilmfest.com) on March 30.

The Cairo session, generously hosted by the Goethe Institute, took place in February, and drew 18 participants aged 12 to 19 from in and around Cairo to learn basic camera skills and create stories based on the theme ‘Daily Life.’

The participants were asked to develop ideas about things they see everyday, dreams and goals they have for themselves, and aspects of their lives. Alberto de Michele and Jennifer Petterson, two artists from Amsterdam who represent the One Minutes Foundation, taught the participants about story development and production skills, and helped the participants shoot and edit their one minute story.

Shivani Pandya, DIFF’s Managing Director, said: “The oneminutesjr workshops were an extension of our mandate to develop and nurture filmmaking talent across the region, and to reaffirm our social commitment. We were very pleased with the way the workshops were conducted, and we urge those who are interested in cinema as a platform for cross-cultural understanding to view the remarkable videos online.”

The final 18 films were shown at a screening at the Goethe Institute attended by parents, friends and the community, including members of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union.

Karen Cirillo, Executive Producer, Children’s Broadcasting Initiatives, UNICEF, commented on the OneMinutesJr. initiative: “Partnering with DIFF was an excellent opportunity for us to continue our expansion throughout the world. DIFF’s aim to expand the filmmaking community throughout the region dovetails with ours, which is to position film as the ideal instrument for young people to express themselves and to learn about each other through a universal visual language.”

DIFF has partnered with UNICEF in past festival editions; in 2006, the film Invisible Children, produced by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, was screened as part of a fundraiser, where all proceeds were donated to UNICEF.

DIFF 2008 will take place from December 11 to 18.