The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Programme on Youth (UNPY) hosted the PLURAL+ Video Screening and a panel discussion on gender representation in youth-produced media today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The event was held in commemoration of the International Year of Youth and the Commission on the Status of Women. The Youth Video Festival recognizes the youth as powerful agents of social change in intolerance, cultural and religious divisions and aims to engage the youth in these themes.
The PLURAL + Video Festival invited people ranging from ages 9 to 25 to submit videos focusing on dynamic and forward-thinking videos focusing on migration, identity, diversity, human rights and social inclusion.
Using a variety of media platforms, the youth shared their thoughts, struggles and fears, building bridges toward peace and harmony on their commonalities and diffusing anger based on lack of understanding. Today’s event screened 19 award winning films on participants’ thoughts, experiences, questions and suggestions on PLURAL +’s main themes.
Ms. Michele Klein Solomon, Permanent Observer to the UN, stressed the necessity to have more dialogue and leadership in diversity and cultures. She noted the importance of cross cultural dialogue and the difficulty in quantifying identity and integrative policies critical to managing diversity.
PLURAL+ acts as a platform for young people to demonstrate and energize dialogue and mutual understanding of key challenges that they face within their communities. “PLURAL + is an attempt to mobilize the vision, the demands and sometimes suffering of citizens across the world” said Mr. Marc Scheuer, Director of UNAOC.
The event concluded with a panel discussion focusing on Gender Representation in Youth-Produced Media examining the value of gender equity and engaging young women in media production. In the Jury Award winning film, “Young Ladies,” the film shows the lives and hardships faced by classmates of different backgrounds.
PLURAL+ will continue this dialogue and launch the next call for submissions for PLURAL+ 2011 soon.
