Africa Volunteer Corps and Visions Incorporated present: Visualize Change Film Forum

The event will feature short films showcasing empowering and positive stories from Africa and the importance of local initiatives in the development process. Following the film screening will be a question/answer session with AVC founder Caitlin Kelley and a panel of experts, a silent auction of goods donated by local business, and a catered reception. All monies raised through ticket sales and silent auction will go towards the efforts of Africa Volunteer Corps.

Films:

Meun Meunu Jigeen (All That A Woman Can Do)

Dir. Eve Symington, 16 min.

The stories of women artists working and thriving in Dakar, Senegal. Through their experiences and insights, these women open the door for the West to deepen its understanding of women, family, and career in Africa.

Create Our Own Space and Charity

Dir. Banker White & WeOwnTV

WeOwnTV is a collaborative media project with the filmmakers of the award-winning documentary "Sierra Leon's Refugee All Stars" and local pastor and playwright Arthur Pratt. Together they created a digital storytelling and media production training workshop to give a voice to a generation of Sierra Leoneans whose childhood was cut short by war to rebuild the cultural and national identity necessary to support the country's fragile new peace and democracy.

Create Our Own Space

6 min.

The powerful and inspiring introduction to the work of WeOwnTV. The footage represents a collection of standout quotes, interviews and creations from the young filmmakers that began to create their own space during the August 2009 WeOwnTV Intro to Filmmaking workshop and shows the power of giving Sierra Leoneans the tools to tell their own story.

Charity

9 min.

Created by WeOwnTV workshop participants from video diaries about the present day, the film explores delicate family dynamics in desperate times and mirrors the mixed blessing of the massive influx of international support and assistance in Sierra Leone during the UN peacekeeping mission.  Providing a window into the relationship between two brothers, torn by a gift which proves both a blessing and a curse, this piece touches on a larger struggle within Sierra Leone to maintain a national identity despite heavy international support in the post-war period.

Other films TBA.

Africa Volunteer Corps (AVC) is an organization dedicated to strengthening grassroots social change in Africa. AVC’s mission is to empower Africans and strengthen locally-initiated development projects by placing African volunteers to work at grassroots NGOs in Africa.

Artists in Chicago are aching to get together and be a part of something.  Lindsay Madison, a Chicago resident and President of Visions Incorporated, has seen this need and created a company to gather individuals who long for a community, get them together, and work to support causes they can all believe in. For more information, please visit www.africavolunteercorps.org pr www.visionsincorporated.com.