Jessica Szeto is a youth activist and an aspiring documentary-film maker. Her passion for volunteering began at the age of 13 when she first read about Craig Kielburger's crusade in India. Inspired by his journey of compassion and positive change, Jessica and a group of dedicated friends started a youth-in-action group called "Live2Give". Since then, Jessica went on to high school and has continued to contribute her time to Free the Children and to other charitable organizations.

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Dear DOC Educators,  read more »

What an amazing experience it was to film such an engaged, dynamic grade 8 classroom in Tara, Ontario!

Educator Paul Bolton uses the Directors of Change Program to teach his grade 8 students about social issues, both in other countries and in the local community.  Students discuss what their classroom definition of human rights entails, and after watching youth-made documentary films, they determine the possible violations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

These students are empowered to use technology to create social change, and by doing so they are creating awareness about social issues that they are passionate about.

Thank you Mr. Bolton and your grade 8 classroom for your amazing work!  read more »

Through out all of my travels over the years I have learned some very important lessons.  In order to bridge the cultural divide you first need to identify common interests and or goals.  While bringing over 20 high school students from Canada to India in order to film this documentary certainly has its challenges, the goal was to first put the young filmmakers at ease with their new surroundings and subjects.  There are many ways to do this, but I have found the easiest way is to connect individuals from different cultures through the arts and culture.  read more »

The DOC Team arrived in Udaipur India a week earlier then the students. The DOC team was made up Scott McPherson, Fanny Malo, and myself. Both Fanny and Scott are in film school. We arrived a week early in order to finalize the stories the youth had developed back in Montreal.

Our first priority when training the youth, who had little to no film knowledge, was to develop their abilities to tell a story. The act of filmmaking, especially documentary filmmaking, is an every changing story development process. For as much as you develop your stories, research and themes prior to arriving, the simple fact is that you are dealing with real people and real emotions, not to forget uncontrolled locations and acts of god, especially in India.

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I just recently returned from India. Where I was running a program for Nokia, International Youth Foundation and Free the Children, the program is called Directors of Change This programs mandate is create youth produced documentaries that are then integrated into the curriculum of Canada school boards across the country.  Each student is also outfitted with a Nokia N95 mobile video camera so they can document their own experience, as well as produce a film showing their behind the scenes struggle.  read more »

Story from Udaipur-

1. Subna
Subna is 12 years old. She
studied till 3rd grade. She is the eldest child of her parents. She has
an younger brother Suresh (10yrs) and two sisters yamuna(8yrs) and
radha(6yrs).Her father spent all his life without doing anything as
stated by her mother. Before marriage her mother was making brooms
according to her family’s occupation. Basically Subna stays in Kankroli
but works in Udaipur because Udaipur is well known tourist place.

 For
Subna the day begins at 10 in the morning when she dressed herself as a
Santoshi maa and helps her brother in his make up as a Krishna or
Hanuman.  This is the only source of income for the family which is
supported by this little girl at the age of 12.  read more »

Stories from Jhadol

Name of village-Berna
Panchayat-Jhadol
Distance -2 km from jhadol
Population -50 household and 250-300 people
Tribe:-Bhil
Scattered village
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This being our first time meeting with the students we thought it was important that they learned a little about us and we learn a little bit about them.  read more »