Amplifying the voice of youth through planetary health films
Authors: Mark Terry
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2020)

Young people should be engaged at international planetary health policy events and have their voices heard in a way that provides visible evidence of related issues in one easily accessible digital space. Researchers at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research (York University, Canada) have developed a programme that could help achieve this goal. The Planetary Health Film Lab is an intensive 1-week workshop that teaches participants from around the world how to create documentary films on planetary health issues relevant to their countries and communities. 1Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health ResearchPlanetary Health Film Lab.https://dighr.yorku.ca/projects/planetary-health-film-lab/Date: 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar Films produced at The Planetary Health Film Lab contribute to a Geo-Doc, a remediated form of the documentary film created for the UN in 2015.2Terry M The geo-doc: geomedia, documentary film, and social change. Palgrave Macmillan, London2020Crossref Google Scholar The video curation project is part of the Youth Climate Report and is associated with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). More than 450 videos produced by young people (aged 18–30 years) reside on the Geographic Information System global map, showcasing visible evidence of the research, effects, and solutions to climate change. Environmental advocacy projects, such as The Planetary Health Film Lab, provide young participants with the technical and theoretical tools to create these films and contribute directly to the Youth Climate Report. The first iteration of the Youth Climate Report was in response to a call by the UNFCCC in 2010 to provide video reports created by young people and the result was a feature-length documentary film containing five reports by individuals aged 18–30 years. The experiment was successfully received by the delegates of the Conference of Parties (COP) and resulted in increased demand for similar content. Clearly, the feature length format of a traditional documentary film could not accommodate this request. Therefore, a remediation of the documentary that incorporated structures known as database and multilinear filmmaking was proposed. This digital architecture allowed unlimited contribution of film uploads but there needed to be a platform that considered the specific user of this project, the UN. As new advancements in geomedia expanded the multimedia components of GIS content, video became a valuable new element.2Terry M The geo-doc: geomedia, documentary film, and social change. Palgrave Macmillan, London2020Crossref Google Scholar Video provided a platform that suited the international policy maker. Unlike other database documentary projects that require exploration throughout the host website, the Geo-Doc format allows an overarching global view through different film units. UN delegates could now easily select those film projects that related directly to the regions of the world that interested them most. Never intending to replace the scientific papers and written texts previously submitted to the policy maker, the Geo-Doc enhances these data by providing a visual context to the written word.2Terry M The geo-doc: geomedia, documentary film, and social change. Palgrave Macmillan, London2020Crossref Google Scholar In many cases, insufficient formal training in science meant that elected officials serving as policy advisers did not always understand the complex reports and peer-reviewed papers they were referencing. The Geo-Doc prototype was launched in Paris, France, at COP21 in 2015 and delegates responded favourably to the new format and the relative abundance of content. As a living documentary project (ie, new content can be added indefinitely) additional opportunities were conceived so that young people could contribute throughout the year. This concept gave rise to The Planetary Health Film Lab, an experimental curation project that brought young (aged 18–30 years) filmmakers from five continents together in an academic setting to create films about planetary health issues in their home countries and communities for the Youth Climate Report. The collaborative nature of the workshop allowed for the sharing of conceptual approaches to non-fiction filmmaking and exposure to multicultural perspectives on issues related to planetary health. This film lab workshop is designed to serve as a model for other planetary health research organisations, institutes, universities, and groups to host similar film labs and provide a continual supply of new video content to the UN Geo-Doc project. The inaugural film lab took place at York University in February, 2020. The seven participants were from Ecuador, Australia, Colombia, Canada, Italy, and India.3Tilleczek K MacDonald D The Planetary Health Film Lab evaluation report.http://youthclimatereport.org/uncategorized/planetary-health-film-lab-evaluation-reportDate: July 2, 2020Date accessed: November 16, 2020Google Scholar For the first 3 days, participants were taught by scholars and professionals experienced in communication, international policy, film production, digital media, and environmental studies. These lectures guided the participants both technically and theoretically in creating their own video report on planetary health issues in their respective home countries and communities. Days 4 and 5 were spent applying the knowledge they had been given in the production of their film reports. Professional support was provided by camera operators, film editors, documentary filmmakers, and sound recordists to assist the new filmmakers during this period of the film lab. By the end of the week, seven young people from six different countries premiered and introduced their films to the public at a small film festival held on campus. Their films were subsequently uploaded to the UN Youth Climate Report project, thus adding their voices to the global community of youth in anticipation of the 2021 COP26 climate summit (Glasgow, UK). The films supplied the Youth Climate Report with valuable content and the participants were encouraged to showcase their films when they returned to their home countries and share what they learned at the film lab with other young filmmakers to expand the reach of the project and produce more content that amplifies the voice of young people worldwide. The Planetary Health Film Lab has proven to be a successful approach to mobilising youth in the pursuit of creating informative and influential videos on the research, effects, and solutions related to planetary health issues. Using the remediated documentary film format of the Geo-Doc further extends this visible evidence to international policy makers, local governments, and the general public in a structure that is informative, influential, accessible, and comprehensive. MT reports grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, outside of the submitted work.