NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A diverse group of New York City public high school students have produced an important animated new film that focuses on the increasingly serious issue of child soldiers.
The film, A Child’s War, will be presented this Friday, September 7, at 6:00 pm at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Entry for the screening is free. The press is invited. The young animators will be available to discuss their work. The Museum is located at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria, Queens. It can be accessed by subway (R or V trains to Steinway Street; N or W trains to 36th Ave). RSVP: afterschool@movingimage.us.
A Child’s War is the culmination of the year-long Virtual Video Project, an after-school program conducted by Global Kids, Inc. in collaboration with the Museum of the Moving Image. During the past year, the students gathered regularly to learn about film production, global issues, and virtual worlds, producing A Child’s War, a year-end project on the plight of child soldiers in Uganda.
Global Kids is the foremost nonprofit organization in New York City specifically dedicated to educating students in underserved communities about international and public policy issues.
Throughout the 2006-2007 Virtual Video Project, the students used machinima (digital movies made in online virtual worlds) to create short films and public service announcements that relate to important global issues.
A Child’s War is a short video that displays the students’ spectacular understanding of both digital media and important international issues. Through A Child’s War, the 20 young creators vividly illustrate a poignant story that documents the fictional life experiences of a former child soldier who has come to the International Criminal Court to testify against the warlord who forced him to murder hundreds of people, including his own family members.
A Child’s War was created in the virtual world of Second Life, one of several “virtual worlds” that offers a three-dimensional environment where online participants from around the world are represented by avatars in social and workplace interactions that mimic and reinvent the physical world. Second Life has millions of users and a growing non-profit community.
By streaming the video in Second Life, disseminating it online, and presenting it at screenings such as Friday’s at the Museum of the Moving Image, the students hope to raise awareness about a critical global issue.
The Virtual Video Project is part of Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP) and made possible with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The OLP helps underserved youth learn about important international affairs issues and exercise their leadership skills through innovative media forms. Students in the OLP’s Virtual Video Project meet twice a week throughout the school year. The after-school program educates them about film production, digital media literacy, youth media, civic engagement, and global education. Throughout the Virtual Video Project, students learn about Second Life, construct a storyboard based on a global issue of their choosing, create a series of public service announcements, and create one short film such as A Child’s War.
You may watch A Child’s War at: www.holymeatballs.org/2007/06/vvp_a_childs_war_released_year.html
You can watch their earlier piece about digital media and youth at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7TlSGH9-IVM
Read the youth leaders blogs: www.holymeatballs.org/machinima/
To learn what you can do about this issue, go to: www.holymeatballs.org/2007/06/acw.html
About Global Kids, Inc.
Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Global Kids’ programs reach over 11,000 youth annually. For more information, visit http://www.globalkids.org.
Contacts
Global Kids
Jonah Kokodyniak, 212-226-2116
Jonah@globalkids.org
or
Mariam Communications
Tom Mariam, 914-939-4294
Tom@mariam.biz
but Idan, Joe and Nafiza came and helped me out with everything and got everything organized to film the scenes. We got more accomplished than I expected and I felt that we made good progress. And hopefully we'll keep making good progress as we continue next Tuesday.