Banner showing a group of people sitting at a table and standing at a white board, actively having a discussion.

Channeling Youth Voices an official selection at CIFF

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A documentary created in collaboration between CHASI researchers and Chilliwack Youth will be screened as an official selection of the Chilliwack Independent Film Festival on Saturday, November 19. It will be screened in a block with five other short documentaries from around the world. 

A still from the documentary shows one of the youth leads filming outside on a bright sunny day, under the leaves of a tree. She is wearing mirrored sunglasses, and reflected in them is her hand holding a small portable camera. A graphic overlays part of the image showing corn stalks in the shape of laurels, with text that reads “Chilliwack Independent Film Festival Official Selection, 2022.”

The Channeling Youth Voices project covers such topics as mental and/or physical health, transitioning out of government care, loss of a main support figure, impacts of incarceration, substance use, poverty, and homelessness. Research activities included interviews, community conversations, and a “reflection series” wherein youth used a variety of mediums to respond to the research questions and convey a sense of their daily lives. Video submissions from the reflection series formed the content of the documentary short, which was co-created with the youth leads.

This project was made possible through partnership with the Cyrus Centre and Chilliwack Building Youth Futures, with support from the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC), as well as the Tamarack Institute and the Government of Canada through the CBYF Community Innovation Fund.