Kicking off day one was the Youth Forum, where more than 150 youth delegations gathered at the 16th century military Forte de São Julião da Barra, spreading messages of peace, unity and multicultural understanding.
Phelister Amondi Awuor, co-producer of ‘Include Me’.
Ms. Awuor said called the film “a short poetry piece about women in my society, the everyday woman who is trying to make ends meet”.
“But despite her efforts, it’s still sad that we continue to deny her needs like education, choice to make decisions about her self, like access to finances and things like owning pieces of land,” she told UN News.
“I am a woman, and this could easily be me,” she said. “I was privileged to at least finish my high school education, and that has empowered me to make some critical decisions about my life and the way I want to live it. Some women don’t have that choice.”
She said that “the fact that we are not talking about it enough, or how we talk and they keep ignoring our voices, or shutting us down, is the reason more women still don’t have choices or voices when it comes to some matters.”
Watch the full video here:
Check out some of the other young directors and their videos here:
- Weirdies by second grade students at the CEIP Maestro Camilo Hernández school in Spain (under age 12). Watch here.
- Just Talk by Junhyuk “Roy” Ahn of the United States (13- to 17-year-olds). Watch here.
- Old Times by Chaela Fuentes Tordillo and Kervin Quieta of the Philippines (special recognition for inclusive action on climate change and its impact on migration). Watch here.