Judith and I just announced the Full Frame / Working Films Award at the barbecue. Our award, sponsored by Chicken & Egg Pictures and the Ettinger Foundation, is for the film that holds the greatest potential for supporting serious grassroots organizing, equity, justice and human rights.
This year we gave the award to a film which much of it was shot with small digital camcorders. It is an instructive, how-to, inspiring primer on what citizen journalism is all about. It speaks to the power of individuals using what ever recording device necessary to capture the depths of human-rights abuse and the heights of human courage. It is also a lesson in how we as filmmakers can organize and work with each other — across the great divides of race, boarders, class and politics — passing the media baton one to another until it reaches the networks, the official reporters and the world’s stage to say “We are here… Do Something!”
We are proud to give this year’s award to Burma VJ. We are thrilled that it also won the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award as well as the Anne Dellinger Grand Jury Award.
You can now leave comments on the Working Films blog and have your comment feed to twitter, facebook, etc
whoever implemented this rocks. I'm totally excited about the Disqus integration too.
Looks like an awesome film to give an award to too! I've been getting a lot more into live/mobile vlogging and it's inspiring to see it happening for a socially just cause.
Two tools that could be useful to strengthen their efforts (if not already used):
Qik – allows live video streaming from your phone, right to the web.
http://qik.com/info/supported_phones
Eye-fi – gives any digital camera geo-location and wi-fi
http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/eye-fi-w…
#handheld I just volunteered as a Project Champion for one of NetSquared's Featured Projects – Handheld Human Rights. It makes Human Rights data accessible & actionable through mobile activist tools and their focus is in Burma!
Here's a detailed blurb:
“Handheld Human Rights provides a secure hub for groups around Burma’s borders documenting human rights abuses. By allowing users to submit data directly from their mobiles, Burmese refugees in community organizations will be able to turn data on abuses into action. Once abuses and alerts are channeled through the hub and mapped, this information can be used to raise international awareness and support advocacy campaigns to bring gross human rights abuses to the International Criminal Court.”
I'm pretty excited about this project. More about the project here on NetSquared: http://www.netsquared.org/projects/handheld-hum…
Burma VJ is indeed a powerful testimony not only to the courage of its protagonists but also to the power of film as a catalyst for change. It's great to see such a worthy film be honored with your award.
I was in close contact with Burmese friends during the Saffron Revolution, when they were using mobile phones and small cameras to organize and document the protests. I wrote a review of the film for Tiny Mix Tapes … check it out here: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Burma-VJ-Reporting-…
PS – thanks to Morgan Sully for introducing me to Working Films! You all seem to do great work and I look forward to learning more.