The Young Media Makers Project is a unique seven-month community program for young people to be seen and heard through film and media. Student Say Nay Htoo Moo, left, poses with facilitator Amie Batalibasi. 69806 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Charlene Gatt
IT’S the small films that are making a big difference.
A collection of short films made by a group of youths will premiere at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image tomorrow, showcasing the work of 23 people taking part in the Young Media Makers Project.
Participants have spent the past seven months learning all the filmmaking basics – script writing, acting, sound, working behind the camera and editing – under the guidance of local documentary maker Amie Batalibasi.
“(I wanted) to make film training accessible to diverse people who maybe don’t have access to that kind of training,” she said.
Ms Batalibasi got every person to pitch their film idea and the top five were voted on and brought to life.
“It was overwhelmingly successful and the need for these young people to learn those filmmaking skills but also to learn to tell their stories, so that they have a voice in the media,” Ms Batalibasi said.
“We’ve got people from an Australian background, people from Sudan and Burma – it’s so diverse, but there’s this universal need to tell their story. It was awesome.”
Ms Batalibasi hopes to run another program in the future.
