Images & Voices of Hope filmmaker brings another expansive experience to Peace Village – storytelling on a global scale
Director Maartje Nevejan, nominated for an International Emmy Award this coming November told us:
“I hated the way teenagers were portrayed in the international media. For me they are the ultimate symbols of transformation and therefore of hope. The whole world is in transformation in these interesting times, dominated by globalization and immigration and in the end of economic systems as we know them for the first few hundred years. Cousous Global wants to connect young adults worldwide and film them in an intimate way in order to remind us all about this beautiful trait we humans have: the ability to transform.”
WHAT IS COUSCOUS GLOBAL?
Couscous Global is a worldwide community website where young people from all over the world between the ages of 16 and 24 feel compelled and confident to share their most personal issues, experiences and ideas with others true debate. The mission of Couscous Global is to create an intimate sphere where young people feel compelled and confident to share their lives and thoughts with others through debate.
To collect the stories of our globalized next generation, Couscous Global relies on working with “ambassadors” in Asia, Africa and the Middle-East, young filmmakers, students and anyone else who feels connected to the mission of Couscous Global.. This dynamic way of exchanging thoughts, makes Couscous Global every minute of the day a bigger community website.
Couscous Global is a follow up to the Dutch award winning tv-series Couscous & Cola which recorded dynamic discussions between a group of kids in Amsterdam from diverse cultural backgrounds. After Couscous & Cola was broadcast by Al Jazeera* International, the series gained an international audience. Kids from all over the world recognize themselves in the debates and sent thousands of letters to Couscous & Cola. This global attention inspired the start of the community website
Couscous Global.
We organized and film debates in China during the Olympics, will do so in the USA during the elections, and in Holland, Iran, South Africa and Indonesia the coming months. Also everyone is free to submit their own films, as by now Tanzania, Kenya and Suriname did. And who knows: you will be the next one?
* Upon meeting Maartje, she very soon mentioned the coverage that her film received from Al Jazeera (see code of ethics). Immediately, I bristled. I’m still not even sure about mentioning it here. Having only experienced the American view, and more specifically the Jewish American view (my roots), I was defensive and predisposed to negative associations. First, I must say that this predisposition had nothing to do with my own knowledge of this media outlet, just from heresay. Maartje assured me that this media organization was one of the most objective. As her work is about fostering worldwide peace through the voices of young people, I trust her enough to mention Al Jazeera in this blog post. What I can say, more than anything is, the experience at the Images & Voices World Summit at Peace Village made me think about this, a subject that I probably would have been content to never learn about. I’m still not versed enough to have a real opinion yet, but pushing my prejudicial boundaries is certainly a gift I appreciate. Thank you, Maartje. And, for your good work.
(html code for a website: <html> <a href= “http://www.couscousglobal.com“ target=_blank> <img src=”http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/fxxk/image/804/1344-100-100.gif“ alt=”JOIN THE DEBATE, PARTICIPATE!” align=”center”></a> </html>)
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Being of Dutch decent, I have a deep appreciation for a culture that prides itself on tolerance and a desire to be open minded. Maartje’s work is of major importance and will help remind us that the true hope for our future lies in our ability to respectfully communicate our similarities as well as our differences. The confluence of technology and a youthful, idealistic base can move humanity forward in ways that were never available to us before. Bravo Maartje!
Thanks for being so open minded and honest in your assessment of Al Jazeera. Like you, I also know very little true information about it so I am not writing this post to talk it up. Rather, I think that the more people are willing to get off our staunch positions and inquire, the better the world, the country, the family will be. Thanks for modeling this. Peas.