In the fourth of a series about Reel Youth, Mark Vonesch explains how young filmmakers pick the issues that are shaping their future.
“One of the things that I love about working with young people, especially when they’re talking about issues, that they care about, the changes they want to see in the world, young people are impatient. They don’t easily take no for an answer. They’re not afraid of speaking up,” he explained.
“We asked them what issues you care about? What are the changes you want to see happen in the world? It gives me a lot of hope because [they pointed to] a lot of the issues that our world’s facing today: climate change; food security; and housing. Those are things that young people want dealt with, and they want solutions to these problems now. So it’s a powerful thing for me to like see youth step up as leaders and speak up about issues they care about.”
In 2019, the Cortes Community Health Association and Island Health sponsored three films that were made at Linnaea farm.
The youth chose three issues.
In ‘Plastic Kills,’ a ‘plastic monster’ slowly killed off the film group, as a metaphor for the way that plastic is polluting the world and being dumped into the oceans.
‘Free Bike’ is about a kid who sees a nice bike at the free store. ‘Wow, what a good find’ he says, and then pedals off. This leads to a hilarious chase, as the bike’s owner tries to track him down.
In ‘Get Outside’ a group of Cortes Island teens recognize the power and importance of being connected to nature, for people’s wellbeing.
Vonesch says the magic happens when you find the issues youth are genuinely passionate about and help them create a video that will make people think about it.
One of the issues that he’s heard them talk a lot about is the housing crisis.
Vonesch said he hears youth asking, “Are they gonna be able to afford to buy a place when they’re 20?”
Some people think youth are apathetic, they don’t care what’s going on in the world around them.
“My experience is that they actually do understand pretty deeply the most pressing issue issues that we face and they’ve got solutions,” said Vonesch.
Top photo credit: ‘Filming Free Bike’ (left to right) Aedrin Caron, Sadie Reed, Moon Racoon, and Eric – Photo courtesy Reel Youth
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