It was a busy year for Dr. Mark Terry as he worked with two separate indigenous groups of youth to once again guide them into each creating their own documentary films, approximately three minutes long, that will be added to the Youth Climate Report, and screened for UN Policymakers and delegates in November 2022 at COP27, the United Nations climate conference. A series of press conferences and side events will showcase the films, which will directly contribute to progressive policy creation by bringing these stories to the policymakers at the conference held in Egypt this year.
See more on the 2022 Planetary Health Flim Lab.
Mark travelled to Ecuador in August, to oversee twenty participants producing three-minute films that highlight issues that affect their world. They were presented at a special film festival attended by media and politicians alike, thus spreading the young filmmakers’ message in Ghana and a selection will be viewed by many eyes at COP27.
As usual, De. Terry works with students online prior to arriving in person, so much was done beforehand and it was a very productive time during the in-person workshop used to finalize a really interesting and innovative set of films.
Click here to check out the promotional film the participants created together
The 2022 Planetary Health Film Lab operates in conjunction with Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at which Dr. Terry is a fellow researcher.
_________________________________________________________________
Mark also guided youths in Ghana as they participated in the Ghana Youth Video Programme in conjunction with Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Twelve participants eagerly learned about various digital technologies, platforms, theories, techniques, and several different modes of social issue filmmaking and used their photographs, videos, graphics, research, and ingenuity to produce films that speak to issues that affect them and their environment. Click here for a compilation of all 12 films.
Click here for more on the project
Leadership Team for the Project – Along with Mark Terry, Jeff Grischow, Associate Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, and Magnus Mfoafo-M’Carthy, Professor at the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario helped make this a great experience in which the finished films were screened for the press and government officials, corporate heads, and NGO leaders at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration on October 14, 2022.
On October 31st, 2022, Dr. Terry also spent the evening speaking about the Ghana Youth Video Programme workshop and the films at an event hosted by Harvard University, addressing an audience of 1000, thus garnering more exposure for the fifteen young filmmakers.