Video Volunteers - Brazil

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VIDEO VOLUNTEERS

“What if the poorest one billion people in the world had their own media industry?”

Video Volunteers is a non-profit based in New York City that works to create a sustainable global ‘community media network’, as an alternative media landscape in which tens of thousands of people around the world, living in slums and villages, are producing high quality video content that brings awareness to communities and empowers members to take action. This media is shown locally to accelerate change, while also being distributed through the mainstream media.

One of their strategies for creating a media industry at the base of the pyramid is the community video model, an innovative concept of community media that was developed by Stalin K and Jessica Mayberry in 2006. Currently there are 9 Community Video Units (CVUs), being 8 across India - in six states, ranging from the largest slum in Asia to the most remote tribal regions of the country – and now 1 in Brazil, in São Paulo.

Each CVU is started and funded by a local NGO that has chosen to invest in the vision of creating a ‘Global Social Media Network.’ Each CVU is comprised of 6-10 people from the surrounding slums and villages who are trained as producers. About every 6 weeks these producers, based on a topic decided by the community, produces a video that is seen via wide screen projectors. In India, about 150-400 people come each night to these screenings and discussions. In areas where most cannot read or write video is the perfect way to reach communities and raise awareness on key issues like health, human rights, child marriage, water access and livelihood while inspiring the community to think about these issues and bring about change through action.

freeDimensional and VCU.BR 2009 – BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY VIDEO UNIT

Through liaison with Video Volunteers in New York and Casa das Caldeiras in São Paulo, freeDimensional brought a Community Video Unit to Brazil - the first video unit in Latin America - and directly supports the project from the fD São Paulo office.

VCU.br is the Brazilian Video Unit, that takes place in São Paulo, at Casa das Caldeiras. It consists of a communication workshop and audio-visual laboratory for 10 young adults between ages 18 and 25 living in vulnerable communities and/or risk zones in the city.

VCU.br began in July/2009 and will follow the 10 selected fellows during 8 months, providing them all the technical and professional infrastructure necessary for the activities proposed by the project.

The fellows will complete a total of 30 hours/class per week, which will be distributed between theoretical activities, exposition and practice in a multi-media laboratory. This includes exchanging experience and knowledge with invited professionals, visiting communities, learning about equipments, production, assembling and editing of video reports.

At the end of each phase, the video reports produced by students will be exhibited at the weekly sessions of “TODODOMINGO” at Casa das Caldeiras - that opens its doors every Sunday for free cultural activities. All the making process of VCU.br will be recorded on picture and video.

The purpose of this project is to explore how video can be a livelihood option for these young people and to help them set up video businesses, so that the work can make a permanent impact on their lives by enabling to be professional videojournalists.

2009 VCU.br FELLOWS:

Leila de Jesus Costa is 24 years old and lives with her family in the neighborhood Jardim Miriam. Her mother coordinates a non-profit organization called “Association of Better Living”, which Leila works as a volunteer for. Before joining the VCU.br workshop, she had some video experience from brief video workshops offered by universities and enjoys all aspects of video production. She is very committed to social issues and is very interested in documentaries and short films. She believes that video has the power to bring a poetic view to dramatic situations, inspiring positive thoughts and the development of new solutions.

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Beatriz Natalia Silva Santos is 20 years old. She lives with her family in Guarulhos. They used to live in a small city a few hours away from São Paulo, called Franca. She has experience in video from working on a short documentary in 2008 about a community radio station, "Difusão Comunitåria" and likes working behind the camera. She is interested in learning more about the audiovisual language and believes that video can bring a new understanding to people about their own community. She intends to work as a social educator and would like to transfer the knowledge she acquires at VCU.br to other young adults, giving them the same opportunities she received.

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Luana de Freitas Candido is 20 years old and lives with her family in Guaianazes. Her mother and father were not born in São Paulo, they came from Belém do Pará and Paraná. Luana has been involved in video workshops before and is really interested in learning more at VCU.br so that she can work with video in the future. She really enjoys working behind cameras, with the photography, and believes video is a powerful communication vehicle that can show hidden aspects of communities, revealing creative solutions for social problems. She would also like to use her video skills to produce educational videos that bring knowledge and useful information to others.

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Juliette Bernardo Bezerra is 18 years old and lives with her family in Guaianazes, São Paulo. She has some experience in video from short workshops before VCU.br and enjoys working with scripts. Juliette believes that video can show vulnerable communities how they also have many positive and culturally rich aspects. She plans to use her experience at VCU.br to later work as a professional in video production.

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Washington Santana da Silva is 19 years old. He lives in Osasco with his family, which originally came from Parana. Washington has been working since age 10 and is now determined to create a professional life in video production. He has been part of previous video workshops before VCU.br and enjoys conducting video interviews. Washington believes video can help break the stigma of violence in vulnerable communities as well as promote social inclusion.

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Renato Tavares Rocha is 18 years old. He lives with his family in Guaianazes and his parents came from the northeast of Brazil, having Renato in São Paulo. He has always been very interested in video production, especially in editing videos, and has some experience from short video workshops. He wants to become a professional video-maker and is really interested in learning more with VCU.br. He believes video can reveal the culture of different communities and can help fight prejudice.

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Allan Jones Souto Dias is 23 years old. He lives with his family in Guarulhos, which originally came from Manaus. He has attended previous video workshops and has been part of theater classes in his community. His favorite part of video production is writing scripts. Allan intends to strenghten his knowledge of audiovisual production, so that he can apply this to his personal projects involving community issues and work with video professionally. He believes video can bring a broader conscience to people, reveal problems and give ideas for solutions.

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Ricardo Barbosa is 25 years old. He lives with his family in Guarulhos, but they originally came from Pernambuco. He has experience in short video workshops and has already produced a few short videos. His preference is in working behind the camera. He plans on making video production his profession and believes that video can bring new opportunities to approximate and integrate the community.

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Rafael Trevigno is 24 years old and lives with his family in Diadema, São Paulo. He has been involved in theater, literature and audiovisual workshops at younger age and now plans to work with video professionally, concentrating on script writing. Rafael is interested in learning how social issues affect communication and would like to produce videos about common people from the community, capturing their opinion on different issues so to awaken and improve their self-esteem.

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Henrique Heidy Sawaki is 24 years old and lives with his family in the neighborhood Penha. He is the son of Japanes immigrants and spent his childhood living in Japan. He has been part of short video workshops before VCU.br and enjoys all aspects of video production. Henrique is now interested in acquiring more knowledge and in meeting more people involved in audiovisual professionally, so that he can work in the area. He believes video can bring valuable information to people and allow them to have access to culture.