UN Youth Program Partners with Canadian Production Company

The Youth Climate Report (YCR), a partner program of the United Nations Climate Change (UNCC) since 2011, is pleased to announce it has partnered with Avatar Media, a film and digital media production company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The two organizations worked together promoting the film Happening to Us, a documentary made by Inuit youth profiling the impacts of climate change to the Arctic community of Tuktoyaktuk in Canada’s Northwest Territories at this year’s COP25 climate summit held in Madrid.

Avatar Media specializes in showcasing indigenous communities and environmental issues often working directly with young filmmakers to provide a voice for youth on a global stage. This mandate lines up with the YCR’s objectives in curating videos on climate research made by the global community of youth from the UNFCCC’s Global Youth Video Competition as well as from other organizations producing climate documentary shorts made by youth.

“There is a natural synergy between our two organizations in this regard,” said YCR Executive Director, Mark Terry. “Avatar Media’s grassroots work with youth relates to indigenous communities the world over providing unique perspectives on climate-related issues to the policymakers of the United Nations.”

“Helping youth create media that matters while empowering communities to share their stories about climate change is our goal.” said Jaro Malanowski, CEO of Avatar Media. “This is a natural fit, and we look forward to contributing and uniting global youth to amplify their perspectives.”

The two organizations will work together to train youth on how to make documentary shorts designed for UN policymakers who gather each year at the COP conferences. They also plan to expand the database of content in under-represented areas on YCR’s interactive GIS map.

YOUTH CLIMATE REPORT:

Conceived as a communications tool by Dr. Mark Terry, a postdoctoral fellow of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and a professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at Toronto’s York University, the project invites and curates video reports of climate research made by young people around the world. From 2011 to 2015 the Youth Climate Report presented one-hour, feature-length documentary films showcasing these video reports at the annual UN climate summits known as the COP conferences.

In 2015, a new presentation platform was introduced: a Geographic Information System (GIS) map. The new digital platform allows for unlimited video reports geo-located on a world map. Metadata is also included to assist delegates and policymakers in accessing additional information related to the research profiled in the students’ videos. Each year, the top 20 films entered in each of the categories of the Global Youth Film Competition are added to the interactive map.

This remediation of the documentary film – known as a Geo-Doc – was the subject of Dr. Terry’s dissertation and will soon be the subject of a new book on social issue documentary film theory and practice to be published in April 2020: The Geo-Doc: Geomedia, Documentary Film, and Social Change, Palgrave Macmillan. Link: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030325077.

AVATAR MEDIA:

Avatar Media creates quality entertainment for global audiences. Our internationally distributed 3D films, Virtual Reality experiences, interactive web portals, and various television projects can be seen around the world and have been translated into many languages. Our award-winning creative team brings years of experience to every project at every stage from early development to production to international release while remembering the importance of local communities and building audiences through smart marketing and publicity.

Pioneering new approaches in interactive storytelling in a transmedia landscape, we explore new and emerging markets and continue to search for innovative ways to introduce our story worlds to new and existing audiences. With roots in feature film and television production, we bring our theatrical quality broadcast standards to any project. This cinematic approach is key. We want to bring you into the story through an immersive experience at the theatre, at home, or in your own Virtual Reality environment. Our mantra is bringing ideas to life.

Pictured: YCR Executive Director Mark Terry (left) celebrates World Youth Day at COP25 with new partner Jaro Malanowski, CEO of Avatar Media.