Over 300 children across the Asia-Pacific have taken part in Our Day, a film project that documents a day in the life of children in different parts of the world.
Using pocket video cameras, children from Australia, Laos, Timor Leste and Vietnam filmed moments in their day-to-day lives over a period of weeks. More than 100 hours of footage was taken by the children, which has been edited by Australian film director Clinton J Isle into a heartwarming short film that takes viewers on a captivating journey through childhood in different countries.
Isle was awarded an Artist-in-Residence grant from Arts Queensland to work on the Our Day project in collaboration with Mayfield State School and ChildFund Connect, a new educational program from ChildFund Australia that links children in Australia with children in developing countries and enables them to connect and learn with each other using video and other technologies to communicate.
Isle says: “I’ve been working with the students at Mayfield over the past few months, training them on how to use the pocket video cameras and doing creative workshops. The kids then went away and filmed whatever they wanted and we put this footage together with the kids’ videos from other parts of Australia and overseas. We’ve been amazed at the children’s creativity and can’t wait for them to see their film up on the big screen.”
ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence says: “Our Day shows us how children view the world and what is important to them. It serves as a great reminder that children experience the world very differently to adults, which is why ChildFund places such emphasis on listening to children and incorporating their insights and opinions into our work. I’d like to congratulate all the students involved in the project, both here in Australia and overseas.”
To celebrate Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, simultaneous screenings of the Our Day film will take place across seven locations in four countries. Students who participated in the project will attend the events in their schools and communities, where they will not only view the film but also have the opportunity to connect in real time with their peers overseas through Skype.
The Our Day project is supported by the Australian Council for the Arts – the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body – and by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. This project is also part of the ChildFund Connect program, which is partly funded by Australian Aid and managed by ChildFund Australia. Further distribution of the film will take place around the world through the ChildFund Alliance, Arts Queensland and Education Queensland..