— DOCUPEACE — A New Way to Peacebuilding through Documentary Filmmaking

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

7 min readNov 8, 2023

Looking for: 28 participants

Being residents in one of the partner countries:
Germany, Poland, Greece, Iceland, Spain, France, Türkiye.

When:
6–13 February 2024 [Munich, Germany] (including travel dates)
19–26 March 2024 [Mardin, Türkiye] (including travel dates)

Link to apply HERE (deadline for application: 27th of November 2023)

🎥 What is the DOCUPEACE project about? 🎥

The 21st century has already demonstrated that stories have an enormous influence on our behaviors. Corporations, politicians, and young people alike use visual media to capture our attention and deliver various types of content.

Activists, peacebuilders, youth workers, and all individuals who are passionate about making the world a better place can do the same! We can harness the power of visual media to convey nuanced messages, promote values like nonviolence, and even connect people from different sides of conflicts.

DOCUPEACE is a program designed for those who want to learn how to use documentaries to combat various forms of violence and promote a culture of peace.

The aim of the project is to equip 28 youth workers from 7 European countries with knowledge, competencies and practical experience in alternative tools of video making and documentary making that can be used to promote peace in Europe through local and international actions.
Objectives of the project are:

To foster the skill development and the active citizenship of youth workers through documentary filmmaking as a non-formal tool for making them changemakers to create awareness on the issues that they define as important and to foster peace through documentaries
To equip youth workers with knowledge and skills of concepts to be acquainted with a peaceful conflict resolution such as non-violent communication skills, the culture of peace and peacebuilding, human rights
To develop participants’ competencies on practical 101 tools in documentary filmmaking, particularly sensitive approach to the documentary character, and familiarize with the process of pre-production, production and postproduction
To facilitate the process of designing at least 3 documentary projects with synopsis, recording a series of 5 interviews with activists and designing 4 follow-up documentary script ideas to be implemented in the partner countries that will multiply the participant’s project-related skills
To create a short remake of K. Kieślowski “Talking Heads” documentary and disseminate it through YPA network channels and the Momos Film production company
To enhance the understanding of democratic values, civic engagement, and the impact on the lives of young people

To achieve these goals, participants will undergo two 6-day training sessions:

In Munich, Germany, the focus will be on peace and nonviolence. In collaboration with the local film school, participants will also be introduced to professional film equipment and learn the basics of videography.
In Mardin, Türkiye, the focus will shift to practical videography and documentary skills. Participants will work with an experienced documentary director and engage in extensive fieldwork.

IMPORTANT: WHEN APPLYING FOR THE PROJECT, YOU MUST COMMIT TO PARTICIPATING IN BOTH TRAININGS. PARTICIPATION IN ONLY ONE OF THEM IS NOT POSSIBLE.

🙋 This project is for you if you are:

a youth worker interested in filmmaking and documentaries, an artist, activist, youth leader, young person, teacher, university student, human rights activist, staff, youth worker, professional involved in the education or training of youth;
a youth worker who wants to enhance your teaching, training, and youth work skills by adding video-making tools to your toolkit;
an active trainer in non-formal education, especially within a youth organization, engaged in youth work activities or working with an NGO, and you aim to raise awareness about contemporary challenges like i.e. climate change, migrations, and hate speech;
a young video creator eager to develop your skills in peacebuilding and interested in sharing this knowledge as a youth worker;
someone active in the youth field, taking a leadership role in various youth activities and programs within your organization and beyond;
a young person who believes in positive changes in your community and who is passionate about addressing local issues committed to self-improvement, and actively seeks innovative solutions to social challenges;
school teacher in art and humanities.

The project is open to 28 participants from 7 countries, aged between 18 and 35 years old. However, we won’t rule out participants from other age groups if they align with the project’s profile.

What are the costs?💸💸💸

Due to the Erasmus+ program, we can provide you with this unique opportunity for free! We will reimburse your:

travel
accommodation
food (3 meals per day + coffee breaks)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Meet the team! 👯

Piotr Stasik (documentary director)

Author of creative documentaries and feature films. He is a graduate of the Wajda Film School and the Institute of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Warsaw. He works as a director, writer, cinematographer and editor. His documentary films were screened and awarded at many international film festivals. His film „21 x New York” was nominated for the European Film Award. His experimental film „The Moths” (2020) was awarded at the 2021 Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn. He was a participant in the Biennale College Cinema laboratory in Venice. Piotr Stasik is a member of the European Film Academy and the Polish Film Academy.

From 2006–2011 he lectured at Film Kindergarten at Wajda School, In 2010, he completed a set of educational films „How to make a film”.

Julia Woźniak (trainer)

Julia is a specialist in cultural diversity, migration processes and its legal aspects. Her academic research analyzed the issues of cultural conflicts and their nature within feminism. She has cooperated as a facilitator for the Council of Europe and conducted a number of Non-Violent Communication and Peace education workshops both in Poland and abroad. She has worked as a teacher and global education advisor for a Polish humanitarian aid NGO.

Due to her experience in the education and youth sector, she has a deep understanding of youth needs and training methods in the spirit of non-formal education.

She has worked as an equality, social participation and activism advisor for one of the Polish political parties.

Maciej Rotowski (trainer, documentary director)

Documentary director who has been covering the situation of the 2015 refugee crisis in Greece, on the Balkan Route and in refugee camps in Germany. His master thesis analyzed documentary movies through the lens of postcolonial theories.

In 2018 he went through a one-year program for Global Education Trainers (GLEN) and completed internships in Yamu and Somero in Kampala, Uganda. After the program, he cooperates with Polish Humanitarian Action as a trainer and online video campaign director on topics of colonialism, stereotypes or narratives.

He is a trainer and facilitator in YPAN and PA Poland. He cooperated with multiple international organisations i.e. Council of Europe as a facilitator and trainer. Since 2019 his main topic of interest is conflict, in 2023 he got certified as an NVC mediator.

Ilgın Paslı-Brombach (trainer)

Ilgin is a Co-Founder of planIMPACT NGO, a peace worker and a trainer with an engagement in different peacebuilding networks and organizations. She has been developing and providing trainings on Human Rights and Peace Education and conflict transformation, digital citizenship education and gender topics in YPAN and planIMPACT NGO. She is an MA in Transition Management graduate from the University of Giessen in Germany where she focused on peacebuilding and conflict research and particularly on gender issues.

At her work at the United Nations Women, she had been working on different topics at the intersection of youth engagement, women, climate and digitalization agendas. She also participated in the development and implementation of the first Generation Equality Youth Forum of the United Nations Women.

Organisations involved:

The “DocuPeace Training Course: A New Way to Peacebuilding through Documentary Filmmaking” training course is designed and implemented by planIMPACT — Verein für Menschenrechte, Frieden und Entwicklung e.V. and the Youth Peace Ambassadors Network within the support of the German National Agency of the Erasmus Plus Programme.

planIMPACT e.V. — Verein für Menschenrechte, Frieden und Entwicklung is a Germany-based non-profit, non-governmental organization. Our mission is to develop a culture of peace by promoting human rights, peace and democracy, stand up for the reduction of prejudices and free and equal society and set an active beacon against any form of discrimination by empowering young individuals and raising their knowledge and capacities in different areas.

Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (YPAN) is an informal network of 125 young peacebuilders from across Europe who work with and in conflict-affected communities. The majority of the members of the network are trained on human rights, non-formal education, and conflict transformation by the Council of Europe in the long-term project (2011–2014).

Our Mission: The YPA Network wants to develop a culture of peace by empowering young people, and promoting human rights, dignity, equality, and respect for diversity through education, advocacy, and other non-violent actions through projects at the local and international levels.

Application process!

✨Click HERE to apply and fill in the form.✨

DEADLINE: 27th OF NOVEMBER 2023

CONTACT 📧

If you have any questions write to: docupeace-ypan@planimpact.de

”DocuPeace” is a project financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme. The content of the page represents the views of the author only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for the use that may be made of the information it contains.