Kid’s Tour
Southern Caucasus teenagers discover European life
During the period 18th – 30th April 2009 two teenagers from each Southern Caucasus country took part in a road trip across France, Germany, Belgium and Holland. Along the way they screened short films about their own lives to selected audiences of European teenagers with the help of a specially equipped bus, the Cybercar. The youths produced short video stories about aspects of life that they discovered in Europe.
The tour was formally launched with the arrival in Paris on 17th & 18th April 2009 of the six young journalists (two from Armenia, two from Azerbaijan and two from Georgia).
Following an introduction and activities in Paris, including a visit to a factory where an association of volunteers, Unis Cité supports the employment of disabled people, the group started traveling on 21st April 2009.
Three cameramen from the Southern Caucasus as well as a team from DCTV, a respected non-profit media centre in New York City, traveled with the young journalists. DCTV’s co-founder and award-winning TV journalist Jon Alpert mentored the teenagers in their effort to improve their documentary film-making techniques.
The Hello Europe! Cybercar
What made the trip even more unusual was the choice of transportation. The 12m “CyberCar” (kindly lent by DCTV free of charge for the initiative) is a unique fully-functional mobile television production studio with state-of-the-art equipment and with a video wall built in the side of the vehicle. This video wall is used to project video stories that can be watched by the public gathered around the vehicle. The young journalists showed their own stories on the vehicle screen.
The origins of Hello Europe! lie in a previous project, led by Internews partner offices in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia over the last three years. They worked with teenagers in the Southern Caucasus to produce television news pieces for young people, made by young people. The content they created has been broadcast on public television through a very popular youth programme, Kids’ Crossroads, in all 3 countries.
The programme was conceived as a powerful reconciliation tool that brought together teenagers of 14 to 16 years interested in journalism from all three countries, to meet their peers from other Caucasus regions, sometimes for the first time; to learn journalism skills from Internews trainers; to work together on TV stories on subjects of their choice – and in the process to dispel stereotypes about each other, become friends, and show to the wider audiences candid and unbiased pictures of daily lives of teens across the border.
The makers of six of the best short films were selected to join the European tour in 2009. During the trip they were able to acquire new footage centered on their discovery of Europe and its people. Central themes to the tour included the environment and agriculture. The teenagers visited a recycling plant and found out new information on eco-friendly transport, visited farms and a vineyard where they were told about the positive impact of EU health regulations on agriculture.
Presenting their work at the International School of Lyon
During nearly two weeks the young journalists gathered material for their own films. Activities also included visits to the TV channel Euronews in Lyon, the European Parliament in Strasbourg and a discussion with the Jewish Community of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Broadcasters in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in 2009 and 2010 aired the footage in various formats in the frame of their youth television programmes.
Photos from the tour can be seen in the slideshow below:
Video
http://www.vimeo.com/7253336