On March 2, on the occasion of the Commission of the Status of Women celebrated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the UNAOC, IOM and the UN Program on Youth, organized, at the United Nations, a special screening of PLURAL + videos and a panel discussion focusing on gender representation in youth-produced media. The panelist included Karen Cirilo, Executive Producer of Children’s Broadcasting Initiatives, UNICEF; Merva Faddoul, Senior Program Manager, Soliya; Sara Reef, Director of Cross Cultural Initiatives, Intersections International; and filmmaker-activist Amy Sewell.
Marc Scheuer, Director, UNAOC, and Michele Klein Solomon, Permanent Observer to the UN, IOM, opened the event with short remarks on the importance of supporting and facilitating the presence of youth voices in the media, with particular reference to UNAOC-IOM joint initiative the PLURAL + youth video festival. Isabelle Legare, Program Manager, Youth Program, UNAOC, addressed the audience underlying the need for supporting youth-based initiatives and placing the event within the context and goals of the International Year of Youth on Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. Jordi Torrent, Project Manager, Media Literacy Program, UNAOC, stressed the need to support the production and distribution of youth-produced media and presented PLURAL + 2010 International Jury Award winner “Young Ladies”, a video by Martina Hudorovic that creatively addresses the social and emotional challenges of two young Slovenian Roma girls.
The well-attended event generated a lively discussion between the panelists and the audience. The conversation addressed some relevant facts regarding youth and media representation, such as that while New York City youth might not find issues pertinent to gender and race differences no longer significant to them, these subjects are still quite present in young people’s minds living in other areas of the world. Panelists discussed if such difference in perceptions might reflect how youth relate to media, the different types of media they use as well as their access to it, might explain the differences found in young people around the world. Panelist also addressed how young girls often tend to be more creative and engaged than young boys when first given the opportunity to produce their own media messages, such as in UNICEF’s oneminutesjunior initiative. The empowering and self esteem effect that media making has in youth, in particular in migrant and socially depowered youth, was also discussed and identified as another important positive feature of supporting youth-produced media projects.
The event closed by announcing that PLURAL + 2011 is now open for submissions, encouraging the participants to support PLURAL +’s global outreach, ensuring that youth around the globe find opportunities to express and share their views with the rest of the world.
For more information on PLURAL + Youth Video Festival on Migration, Diversity and Social Inclusion, please visit: www.unaoc.org/pluralplus.
For more information on UNAOC Youth Program, please visit: www.unaocyouth.org
For more information on the International Year of Youth, please visit: http://social.un.org/youthyear/
Photographs by Ksenia Yakustidi/UNAOC