Film Your Issue: Global short-film contest highlights the power of youth

As technology makes activism more accessible for many, industry leaders are hoping to send a resounding message to young people: your voice is being heard.

This is the message that HeathCliff Rothman, president and founder of Film Your Issue and Everyone Matters, hopes to convey to young people as they begin to articulate and look for outlets to express themselves.

With nearly 600 applicants from more than 20 countries, Film Your Issue: Youth Speak Out, Leadership Listens, centered this year's theme on "wokeness" — or being educated and aware, especially about injustice — after Rothman said many of the videos received focused on that idea.

Film Your Issue is a global contest where young people aged 12 to 22 can submit a short film on any issue that matters to them. Ten finalists are selected by a jury of leaders including politicians and celebrities. As a media partner, USA TODAY will showcase the winners.

"It was pervasive to me. Youth were much more aware and engaged and invested," Rothman said, citing that while the short-film contest ran from 2005 to 2011, the reboot of the contest this year contained entries that ultimately had a "greater sense of urgency."

Rothman cited youth movements such as "March for Our Lives" as an example. People are stepping up and youth are speaking out.

And that's how he found people like Alice Barker, a 22-year-old from the U.K. with cerebral palsy, who directly spoke to juror Hugh Jackman in her video.

"I have a voice, and so many people with disabilities weren't given a voice, so I'm going to use it. And as someone I know once sang, a million dreams is all it's gonna take," Barker said, referencing a song from Jackman's latest movie, The Greatest Showman.

Jackman is one of the many notable jurors for this year's contest with leaders across a variety of industries including Olivia de Havilland, Senator John McCain, General Colin Powell as well as publishers and editors at major news organizations including USA TODAY, New York Times and the Washington Post.

Jurors from heads of the Smithsonian, the United Nations, Google, Microsoft, PBS and Wikipedia also participated, among many others.

He said they were struck by contestants like Barker, who was one of the first videos Rothman received that he said truly paralleled the original vision of Film Your Issue — someone addressing the camera passionately and authentically.

But others stuck out, too, like "I Am American" by 12-year-old Samira Yang. In her video, she discussed her Indian and Taiwanese heritage through the lens of her paternal and maternal grandparents who immigrated to the United States long before she was born.

Yang discussed in her video what it means to be American, both for her grandparents, and herself: "Yes, I am different. But that's fine because everyone is unique and that's awesome. I am Taiwanese and Indian, but more importantly I am a daughter, a sister, a friend."

"This is a girl who sees the injustice and is clear about it and has a sense of personal power," he said.

Rothman said Yang was emblematic of the "wokeness" and general shift in young people

PBS president and juror Paula Kerger felt this, too.

"Their stories and their voices were all authentic," she said, citing the level of sophistication she felt the entries portrayed through the "powerful and rich medium" like video storytelling.

Meet the finalists:

The seven jury awards in the “Through My Eyes” category are:

• First place: "Trying to Forgive My Father," by Max Kane, 22, U.S.
• Finalists "Am I Still a Freak, So Many Years Later After Barnum?" by Alice Barker, 22, UK; "I Am American," by Samira Yang, 12, U.S.;  "From Norwegian Students:  Dear America – Do Something," a group submission by a class of High School Students, 17, Norway; "The Struggle," by Jehdiah Graham, 17, U.S.; "Pulse," by Jaelynne Gervais, 17, Canada; "Anxiety," by Emma Lenoski, 13, U.S.

The three jury awards in the “Issues Illuminated” category are:

• First place: "The Trauma of Mental Issues," by Shalini Singh, 22, India
• Finalists: "Child Marriage:  Let Me Breathe My Dreams" by Novera Hasan Nikkon, 20, Bangladesh; and "Let Your Freak Flag Fly/Nobody's Watching," by Emma Hutton, 21, Australia.

"The judges were really moved by what they saw," Rothman said.

WPXI