Grades 7-8 Issues to Action
Ali and the Ball
Director: Alex Homes
Australia, 2008
15 min.
Ali is eight years old and lives with his mother in a refugee detention centre. Life is hard for the inmates and Ali's main concern in life is to look after his mother. When her prized knitting needles -- her most treasured material possessions -- are confiscated, Ali takes it upon his shoulders to get them back. Gradually Ali befriends a young girl on the other side of the razor-wire fence and, with her help, attempts to make it up to his mother.
Awards: Sydney Film Festival 2008 (Dendy Award for Short Fiction).
The Days and the Hours
Directors: John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
USA, 2007
8 min.
At a church in the middle of San Francisco, homeless people are allowed to sleep in the pews in the midst of daily services. Filling row after row, over a hundred exhausted men and women find relief from the elements. This documentary includes the voices of homeless people who describe their lives before they slipped off the tracks. The Days and the Hours is a haiku that gives viewers a window into sanctuary.
Awards: Black Maria Film Festival (First Prize: Jurors' Choice); Mendocino Film Festival (Best Short Documentary).
I Want to be a Pilot
Director: Diego Quemada-Diez
Kenya, 2006
12 min.
Omondi, a twelve-year-old boy living in a Kenyan slum, one of 15 million sub-Saharan African children orphaned by poverty and AIDS.
Awards: Los Angeles (Winner Audience Award for Best Short); Sao Paulo Film
Festival (Audience Award for Best Short, 2006)
International Film Festival (Brazil) (Audience Award for Best Short and Crystal Heart
Award)
Rimouski International Film Festival (Humanitas Camerio Award)
Moving Windmills
Director: Scott Thrift
United States/Malawi, 2008
7 min.
In late 2006 a Malawi newspaper wrote about William Kamkwmamba, a remarkable young man from a remote rural village north of the capital city. Forced to drop out of high school for lack of money, William saw a picture of a windmill in a textbook and decided to build one to power his family's home. Using found materials and scrapyard parts such as a broken bicycle, tractor fan, melted plastic pipes, bamboo, and used copper wires, he built a series of windmills that would change his and his family's lives. A visit to America reinforces his dreams to complete his education and bring power to his country.
Awards: Pangea Day Worldwide Film Festival (Participant Media’s North American Filmmaker’s Award) details
Breakout: Endangered Species, Sustainable Living
Director: Lalita Krishna
Canada, 2009
10 min. (each)
Sustainable Living: How much energy does your house consume? We’ll take you to a house in Ontario that has its own well and recycles water
Biodiversity: Tendekai takes people on a Safari in Tanzania. His mission is to teach young people to respect the environment that animals need to survive in the wild.
A Different Kind of Gun
Director: Peter Jordan
Sudan, 2007
15 min.
Filmed inside Sudan, in a camp for people from Darfur and in a remote village in the Nuba Mountains, A Different Kind of Gun tells the harrowing story of children caught in the crossfire of Sudan's two wars. Told in children's voices and filmed, in part, by their own eyes, A Different Kind of Gun takes us into the hearts of the country's youngest generation, who will decide one day whether to avenge their families deaths or to forgive them. Though scarred by the horror they have seen, children study for the first time in makeshift schools, which they hope will be the weapons that one day bring them peace.
Awards: United Nations (Gold Medal)
Holiday Sister (Semestersystern)
Director: Amanda Kernell
Sweden, 2008
12 min.
It's the last day of school before summer for 10- year- old Ville and his best friend Niklas. Before they can take this summer´s first swim, Ville needs to visit his sister who he claims to be on holidays. But is she really on holiday inside of that grey institution?
Awards: Buff Film Festival Sweden (County Council of Skåne Shortfilm Award)
