by Theresa Soares

Ankur Singh is an 18 year old college freshman at The University of Missouri – Columbia who is planning to take off his second semester of school to create a documentary film about standardized testing in America. The film is tentatively titled “Listen,” and focuses on what students themselves have to say about testing culture in the United States.

“But, it’s also so much more than that.” Says Ankur, “It’s about how magnificent our generation is and the amazing incredible things we do every single day that go unrecognized by our education.”

The inspiration for the project comes from his personal story which was featured in Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet for the Washington post this past November. A complete version of the story can be found on the film’s website, and is titled: “Who am I and why should you care about this silly documentary?”

Theresa Soares

Since the publishing of his personal story the film has attracted quite a bit of attention. Singh has plans to interview and film a variety of school districts, student groups, and parent groups from around the country, including Colorado, Texas, Florida, New York, and California.  In a recent interview Singh explained that he is looking to feature a diverse group of voices, “For example, a student who’s been subjected to institutionalized racism perpetuated by the tests and our education system, a student whose true passions and talents are being ignored, a student whose learning style is different, or maybe a student who lives in poverty.” In a recent phone interview, Singh mentioned that his focus for the film isn’t “political, it’s human.”

The filming will take place between January-May 2013, with a projected release date of fall 2013 or winter 2014. He has plans to also submit the film to a variety of different film festivals. There are less than 9 days left for the funding campaign held on Kickstarter. With a goal of just $2,000 the project is a little over a quarter of the way there. Funding generated from the film’s Kickstarter campaign will go towards travel expenses.

For more information about the film, or if you would like to get involved with the project: Email: listenthefilm@gmail.com or call 309-838-4265. For the latest film updates follow the project on Facebook and Twitter.

The official Film Website can be found at: http://listenthefilm.wordpress.com/. To support the film on Kickstarter, please visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ankursingh/listen-0

Theresa Soares is a maturing journalist, narrator, storyteller, and dyslexic. She entered her professional career as one of the youngest women ever to be hired by the United States Department of the Navy. After two years at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California, she joined The Harry Singer Foundation in Carmel California where she provides support for philanthropic research and development. Theresa is a student at Mills College in California where she is studying journalism and intermedia arts. Currently, she is covering organic public interest radio reporting in the Oakland Unified School District. Her interests range from dyslexia and neurodiversity advocacy to empowering student and minority voices within education. Follow her on twitter @Theresa_Soares.

The post Listen: 18yr Old Filming Standardized Testing Documentary appeared first on Education News.

In celebration of the International Year of Youth, UNICEF worked in collaboration with the Egyptian National Child Rights Observatory to organize the Universities Film Festival for Youth and Children. Students from the Integrated Marketing Communication and Media Convergence Capstone courses entered the competition with their own public announcement projects focused on mass communication related to the January revolution and the future of Egypt.

“I was extremely impressed with student work,” said Naila Hamdy, professor of the mass communications course. “I felt that they were exceptionally engaged with the course material because it was so closely related to the events in the country and to their personal beliefs.”

Sherine Fahmy, professor of the capstone course expressed similar sentiments about the success of her students. “The film was beautifully produced and the idea was highly creative, they did everything from A to Z by themselves,” she said. “This group was amazing and always on top of things.”

Bary team, that won second place in the public service announcement category, created the website www.fakarbnafsak.com (Think for Yourself) which lists all self-nominating candidates for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. “The website includes their resumes and previous experiences, so that people can nominate candidates on a rational basis,” explained Bary. “We have been used to forgery and nepotism in elections. This is a social campaign to change that attitude.”

Bary’s project team used the image of marionettes with someone controlling them from above on the website as a metaphor to avoid being controlled politically. “On the streets we got our friends to dress up as marionettes with signs saying “fakarbnafsak,” the name of the campaign,” said Bary. The project also won Best Creative Strategy from J. Walter Thompson, a renowned New York based advertising agency.

Alarian led the other AUC project team to first place for a public service announcement aimed at spreading the patriotic spirit present in Tahrir Square that has led to camaraderie among rivals and less harassment towards women.

Alarian and her group conducted market research at Tahrir Square to see if people were applying their actions in the square in their daily lives. “The spirit of Tahrir that was present during the revolution is not just in Tahrir Square, but everywhere,” said Alarian. “If we act the same way we acted in Tahrir Square now after Mubarak has stepped down, we will be able to accomplish the goals of the revolution.”

Now that their projects have been recognized, the students hope to move forward with their messages. “We have received the exposure of the UNICEF award and we are searching for funding that could help bring this project into life,” said Bary.

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