WORKSHOPS / ONEMINUTESJR: Speaking out - Malagasy children produce their own videos about "Challenges, hopes and dream"

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 14 March 2011 - Sixteen children between the age of 12-19 have gathered in the Centre Culturel Albert Camus in the Malagasy capital Antananarivo to participate in this week's OneMinutesJr workshop. "Challenges, hopes & dreams" is the topic of the five-day workshop in which the teenagers will learn how to tell their own personal stories in a 60-second video.

At the beginning, it is always hard to imagine for the children that in only five days, they will become film directors, actors, cameramen and editors of their own films. However, exactly this is the plan! The OneMinutesJr trainers from the USA, the Netherlands and Germany are here to help the Malagasy teenagers develop their story idea and shape them into touching and enlightening short videos.

The first part of the opening day is traditionally reserved for mutual introductions and a first look at some OneMinutesJr videos already produced by other children from around the world. This breaks the ice and gives the teenagers the courage they need to take up the challenge of story developing and film-making.

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NEWS: On International Youth Day in Madagascar, film screening gives young people a forum

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 2 September 2010 – A film set in Madagascar’s arid south is helping young people develop life skills by sparking a debate on what it means to succeed in life.

The film, ‘Dzaomalaza and the Blue Sapphire,’ was officially launched in Antananarivo on 29 July and was later shown to an audience of more than 500 young people on International Youth Day. A debate followed the screening, which took place before the film began a tour of the island nation.

Set in southern Madagascar, ‘Dzaomalaza and the Blue Sapphire’ highlights the chronic difficulties faced by children and adolescents in the region – including food insecurity, a lack of access to basic health care and adequate sanitation, poor education and early pregnancy.

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