The stories will be framed by age generation as well as divided into themes such as love, family, work, identity, ideology and security. Each story will focus on one event, one journey or one small story in the woman’s life that reflects the bigger theme. The films will be accompanied on the website by background information of the social, political and religious context in which the women live.
The project will both produce films and gather existing content that fits into the style spec. The new content will primarily be made by local filmmakers in their respective countries, executive produced by Write This Down Productions.
In addition to the 3-minute films, we will follow 8 women from different countries over the course of a year. We will profile women who have a strong personal quest that challenges social norms or who are actively trying to change their society. Their stories will start in the same way, with a 3-minute film. Then, regular updates will be posted on the site every 2 weeks, either through a blog entry or a video, inviting users to come back to the site regularly to follow their progress.
The user will be able to interact with the films’ characters through chat rooms as well as suggest new characters / stories to the filmmakers. They will also be able to participate in the making of the project by posting their own stories on the site.
Credits:
A film by Paulina Tervo
Production company: Write This Down Productions – London-based creative company specialized in short form documentary and fiction with a strong focus on social and human rights issues. www.writethisdown.co.uk
Project partner: Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Consortium at the Institute of Development Studies – pioneers of global academic research on the empowerment of women. www.pathwaysofempowerment.org
Click here to see a website demo
Example of films:
Thorns and Silk from Paulina Tervo on Vimeo.