Chris Lunch, co-founder and director of Insight, recently sent us this outstanding and, honestly, very emotionally provocative participatory film made by kids who have a parent with cancer. The kids give advice about how to get through the experience, which is helpful people of all ages.

“We’re not video experts,” said one project participant, “but we do know what we’re talking about.”

“No, You don’t know how we feel” - A film facilitated by Insight. UK, 26mins. This video was created in collaboration with kids in England who are facing the serious illness of a parent. Their film, funded by Macmillan Cancer Relief, is now being distributed to families, professionals and schools.

Insight is a UK/France based organisation pioneering the use of Participatory Video as a tool for empowering individuals and communities. Insight’s Participatory Video methods value local knowledge, build bridges between communities and decision-makers and enable people to develop greater control over their own development and the decisions affecting their lives.

American University’s Center for Social Media Director Pat Aufderheide’s new book, Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction is now available!

“A vivid survey, Aufderheide’s book reminds us how crucial content and purpose are to the power and appeal of documentaries. When other films help us escape the world, these films return us to it with clarity and passion. This book lets us see how that is so.”

— Bill Nichols, author of Introduction to Documentary, Professor of Cinema and Director of the Graduate Program, San Francisco State University

Visit the Center for Social Media’s website to read an excerpt.

Documentary Film is available at Amazon.com.

NPR’s Bryant Park Project has a fascinating audio slideshow about an ingenious protesting strategy being employed in Pakistan. Pakistani dentist and blogger Dr. Awab Alvi has taken our friend Howard Rheingold’s concept of ’flash mobs’ and applied it to rallying against the state of emergency in Pakistan.

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Hello out there — this is Anthony Veneziale, the Artistic Director of VVC, and this is my first blog entry (fanfare here). I will mostly be writing about the production / artistic aspect of filmmaking and the like. So, here goes:

First, I want to talk about the differences between iMovie 6 and the newest iMovie to come out with iLife 08. These are so different that they should be called different programs. Where iMovie 6 gave you control of audio elements (for example - you could split the audio from a video clip and put it anywhere you wanted) iLife 08’s version does not offer that control. But, what you lose in audio control you gain in speed and usability. It’s the most user friendly editing software on the market.

vs.

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Extreme poverty and social inequality has made India one of the most high-risk countries for catastrophic spread of the HIV epidemic. Today, 5.7 million people in India are living with HIV/AIDS and the number is growing rapidly (more stats). Studies have found that impoverished communities in India have very minimal knowledge on how to prevent HIV infection.

The media could be an effective way of disseminating this information and stemming the tide of this deadly epidemic. However, educating the public on such controversial subjects as safe sex is very challenging and has been made difficult by social and legal limitations on what can be televised in India.

So, when I saw this video on YouTube, I knew that it was an enormous win for participatory media and for the fight against AIDS.

And, did I mention, it is also hilariously entertaining. If you like bollywood and you like public health, you will love this music video.

–Caricia Catalani

Our friends and colleagues at Insight, a UK- and France-based participatory video organization, have been doing groundbreaking work on participatory video and its impact on mental health. Co-Founder Nick Lunch has facilitated participatory video projects that demonstrate therapeutic benefits, such as improved confidence and self-esteem.

Most importantly, Insight found that such work is most effective when funding resources allow for a project’s life to extend beyond a minimum period of a few days or weeks, and participants are able to develop a videomaking agenda without the interference of funders or program managers. Co-Founder Chris Lunch argues,

“Without the pressure of producing predefined outcomes, the facilitator of a creative project can open up to the unexpected. Of course the best results occur if you can take your time when the focus is on the process, not the product.”

As such, most of the videos produced through these efforts are not made for widespread viewing, but rather small and targeted audiences. However, the following video is online:

Woodland Peace - UK, - A 10 minute film by Nick Cottingham, a highly creative person living with schizophrenia in Oxford UK about techniques people use to generate positive space in the mind. Mr. Cottingham hopes this film will be the first of a series of participatory videos made by mental health service users & Insight, promoting and spreading personal therapeutic tools for finding peace. This film is also available through the Mental Healthcare Trust.