Making Movies

Teenagers Ranine Andraus, Christian Andraus and Shadi Sader made a documentary depicting life in their southern Lebanese town. Photo: Mercy Corps

A disenchanted male teenager spends his days sleeping and his nights drinking and wandering the roads looking for trouble. The emptiness of daily life provides the focus for the film "Good Morning," produced by Lebanese teenagers Ranine Andraus, Christian Andraus and Shadi Sader.

The film was made as part of a Mercy Corps project called The Eyes of the Youth. It's aimed at enhancing the artistic skills of teens in southern Lebanon, and giving them an outlet to express their needs, aspirations and dreams. The project is also linked to our Connected Communities program, which leverages the power of information-communications technology to help Lebanese address their social and economic development challenges.

Nine youth participated in the four-month project, which guided them through the writing and scene-making process and included technical trainings in lighting, sequencing, sound editing and more.

In all, the group produced three films. In addition to "Good Morning," two girls produced "Fatima," the true story of a young girl suffering from a kidney dysfunction who makes the long trip from Bint Jbeil to Tyre twice a week for dialysis. The film features a poignant interview with Fatima in which she tells viewers about her sister who donated a kidney for her, all the pain she is enduring and her love of life and the support her family is providing.

The third film, "There is Nothing," chronicles the boredom of youth in Bint Jbeil much like "Good Morning." Kids hang out on the streets, play cards, and bemoan that there are no cafes, restaurants, cinemas or other forms of entertainment like in Beirut.

"After the end of the training, I learned how to produce a film from A to Z," says Christian, 15. "A club in our village asked me to produce a documentary on the history of Ain-Ebel," a small village nestled in the southern Lebanese mountains. "I was very happy to accept."

At the end of the project, the youth participants showed and discussed their films with parents, local associations and government officials.

"This project demonstrated the extent to which youth are searching for opportunities to express themselves and participate in the life of their communities," says Sarah Warren, Mercy Corps' country director in Lebanon. "We'll build on this experience by continuing to develop programs that harness the power of communications technology to help youth have greater access to information, social and economic opportunities, as well as access to new media that allow them to express themselves."