During the first week of the Easter holidays we worked with the Mouth that Roars (MTR) and a group of young people from Envision on a video educational resource. The video aims to get young people talking about their faith and values, what it's like growing up in a multi-faith society and how global issues impact on communities here in the UK. It will be available free from July 2006 by request.

The group was made up of 15 young people, aged 16-17, from diverse faiths and backgrounds. They signed up to participate in the project at a joint event held with Envision and the MTR on March 10th aimed at exploring some of the issues to be raised in the film and recruiting a dedicated project group.

The Event

Envision teams were invited to participate in an evening of workshops and activities exploring their beliefs and values and their views on some key global issues: HIV/AIDS, climate change, poverty and conflict.

After a lively discussion about the impact of religion on their lives and wider British society, the group listened to informative presentations from Diversity and Dialogue partner organisations: Save the Children, Christian Aid and Islamic Relief. Each speaker gave a short introduction to their work and the underlying values that motivate each organisation.

Students saw that despite being driven by different religious and secular ideals, the organisations were involved in similar work around the world. The group then split into four and was tasked to come up with a campaign poster encouraging other young people to take action on one of four global issues. The evening was a great success and attended by 35 young people from over 15 secondary schools in London.

Making the film

At the end of the event the group heard more about the video project and what it would involve from MTR, and loads of people signed up to take part. Those interested then attended an introductory evening at the MTR studio in Old Street, learning more about the content and purpose of the video and having a go at filming and using the technical equipment.

The project kicked off properly on the first day of the Easter holidays and over an intense five full days the group worked together on deciding the layout and structure of the film, scripting the scenes, acting and finally shooting the video. The young people were involved in all parts of the process of the film production. It was a great opportunity to get them discussing issues central to Diversity and Dialogue and for them to acquire skills in all aspects of film production.

Project type

• Interfaith

Region

• National