The Our World website shares the results of a series of film making workshops that have been carried out in numerous First Nations communities in BC and Yukon. The project was originally a National Film Board initiative, but more recently has been supported by an organization known as Bite Size Media.
The stories found on this site are all examples of First Nations collaborating with elders to learn more about their language and culture. Most of the videos are narrated in a traditional language, and in some cases, share traditional stories, songs and dances. However, many of the pieces also share very poignant perspectives on the loss of culture and the film makers’ struggles to define their own identities. The site is organized according to the places in which the film making workshops have taken place. As such it provides a sense of the unique nature of each people and its youth as well as how these media pieces were received by the communities in which they were created.
One of the most notable things that I found about this site was the range of approaches and techniques chosen by the young people who created these digital stories. The videos are visually very diverse and have clear and distinct voices. Nonetheless, I found, they all result in a very similar and significant impact on the viewer.
