AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASE

18 April 2007

Capturing the unscripted stories of youth

The DOCNZ Trust, Community Action on Youth and Drugs (CAYAD) Auckland Central and Auckland City Council are proud to present “Capture: Youth Unscripted”, a film-making workshop and documentary competition.

The free workshop on 20 April, open to Auckland city students aged 13 to 18 years, will introduce the importance of documentaries and how young people can participate in documenting the world around them.

Students will hear from established film-makers about making documentaries and receive tips for how to make a documentary using limited resources.

The documentary competition will provide young people with an opportunity to create short documentaries telling positive stories of how youth are involved in their communities.

Entries for the competition open on 13 May and close on 11 June. Competition entries will be judged by peers and established New Zealand filmmakers, and winning films will be shown at the DOCNZ film festival, held from September to November 2007.

Sarah Finlay, a CAYAD facilitator, says: “We hear negative stories so often about young people. ‘Capture: Youth Unscripted’ is about young people being recognised for, and telling their own stories about the dynamic and positive impact they have in our communities. We need to value young people’s voices and participation, and find ways that we can all contribute towards making positive, sustainable change.”

The project’s concept and design has come from Auckland city high school students who participated in last year’s Converse O6 Auckland City Youth Council urban youth summit.

Alex Lee, co-director of DOCNZ, is excited about the potential contribution that young people can make towards documentary filmmaking in New Zealand.

“Through ‘Capture: Youth Unscripted’ we can pave the way for the next generation of Peter Jacksons and Nikki Caros to emerge. This initiative will form an invaluable resource, as well as an archive of our times,” says Mr Lee.

‘Capture: Youth Unscripted’ documentary competition guidelines and more information is available at www.docnz.org.nz/events

ENDS

Young people and media are invited to attend the workshop. If interested, please pre-register with Sarah Finlay.

For further information, please contact:
Sarah Finlay, facilitator, Community Action Youth and Drugs
ph (09) 353 9571 or 027 674 8724

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