Truth Talking productions launched

TVE Asia Pacific and its partners have just launched a set of six documentary films produced through a participatory process that nurtured close collaboration between civil society and audio-visual media.

The programmes were unveiled during the Fifth Regional Workshop of the Asia Pacific VRC Network, held in Singapore from November 18 to 22, involving 43 participants from 21 countries.

The Truth Talking Project supported indigenous film-makers in six countries across the region to produce half hour documentaries that looked at how local communities are responding to natural or man-made crises that threaten their lives, livelihoods and lifestyles. The resulting package offers glimpses of the many issues and complexities confronted by the world's largest region -- home to more poor people than all other regions combined.

Filmed in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal and the South Pacific, these programmes portray stories of resilience, extraordinary courage, leaps of human faith and glimmers of hope. They cover diverse topics - ranging from natural disasters and globalisation to HIV/AIDS and violence in society - as seen by film-makers who are close to the issues and are often impacted by the very issues covered. Click here for short synopses of the programmes.

The programmes are presented by TVE Asia Pacific together with Witness, a New York-based non-profit organisation specialising in using audio-visual media to safeguard and promote human rights around the world. Witness provided expert inputs to several productions that touch on aspects of human rights.

"These six documentaries are among the many outputs of the multi-faceted media initiative called Truth Talking Project," said Nalaka Gunawardene, head of TVE Asia Pacific during the launch. "To us, the most important aspect is that they were made by indigenous film-makers who were responding to local needs, priorities and concerns. These productions are made for broadcast, and from the beginning they were meant to be editorially independent, issue-based documentaries."

The programmes have been made to international broadcast standards using entirely the talents, skills and capabilities within the Asia Pacific. Already, national level broadcasts have started and regional broadcasts are under discussion.

The story ideas were chosen through an open, competitive process where members of the Asia Pacific VRC Network -- 18 organisations spread across 13 countries of the region - submitted two dozen proposals in late 2001. Each of the six productions commissioned received a grant of approximately US Dollars 12,000 and technical assistance and support from a TVE-appointed executive production consultant. The producing organisations contributed in both cash and kind towards the production.

Four of the programmes - in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Nepal - were produced inhouse by the Video Resource Centre itself. In India and South Pacific, the production was outsourced under the close supervision of the VRC.

The six productions have been made in English as well as in the dominant local language of the country of production. Thus, there are also Bangla, Khmer, Gujarati, Lao, Nepali and Fijian versions that will be primarily used in these countries. Further versioning into other Asian languages is being planned.

"It was an exciting and enriching experience to be associated with these productions," said Bruce Moir, the veteran Australian film professional who served as TVE Asia Pacific's executive production consultant to the productions. "The production efforts were very different, and it is to the credit of the indigenous directors and their teams that we have ended up with six programmes each telling an engaging story and offering its own unique perspective."

During the Singapore workshop, five of the producing organisations were represented by either the director or producer of the programme. They shared their impressions and experience in what it was like to produce a programme catering to both local and international audiences.

"We were delighted when our proposal was selected," said Bernadette Masianini, Communications Manager of WWF South Pacific who produced Voices from the Waves, filmed in Fiji and Kiribati. "There have been many documentaries on how climate change impacts the island nations of the Pacific, but this is the first time that we the Pacific people have a chance to articulate our own views in our own programme. This means a great deal to us."

In the coming months, TVE Asia Pacific and its partner network will distribute the Truth Talking productions throughout the region and beyond. With no copyright restrictions, the producers want to see these programmes used for broadcast and non-broadcast purposes as widely as possible.

"These films offer powerful stories of real people trying to deal with real issues," said Robert Lamb, Executive Director of TVE International who participated in the Singapore workshop. "It will be really interesting to see what kind of impact these films have on the communities where they were made, and across the region."