Dutch filmmaker and 360° inspiring documentary personality Mirjam Marks found a new project to get to grips with. Inspired by the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child’s 30th anniversary, she focuses her work on an issue affecting children worldwide: climate change.
Marks’s documentary JOVANNAFORFUTURE (for EO’s Just Kids series) that premiered in IDFA’s ‘Kids & Docs’ competition 2019, portrays 13-year-old Jovanna, one of the many children that got inspired by Greta Thunberg. Jovanna is worried about her future and joins the weekly school strike. She lives in an earth house, is a vegetarian and refuses to fly. Mirjam Marks: “I didn’t want to limit this film to a Dutch perspective so I asked children from around the world to share their views on this important topic, giving them all the same assignment: make a film and voice your opinion. That’s how until now I found at least 34 children from 18 different countries willing to participate.”
Editing these images, every participant got his own ClimateClip (duration: max. 1.5 minute per clip). The first ClimateClips were launched at Cinekid 2019, and from 22nd October onwards, everyday a new clip was posted on different platforms. You can find them all on INSTA CLIMATE_CLIPS and on the Vimeo Showcase on producer Tangerine Tree’s website. The perfect way to get in touch with kids from Curacao, Congo, India, Vietnam, Fiji Islands and many other countries.
On 20th November – the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the 30th clip went online and JOVANNAFORFUTURE premiered at IDFA. Marks: “We are so excited that we don’t want to stop after 34 ClimateClips. We will go on – these matters are too important! Our goal is to keep on finding those kids, and inspire them. In 2020 we will launch a ClimateClip YouTube channel, and a website with education material for schools. Until the Climate Summit in the Netherlands in October 2020, we will continue to post new clips.”
These clips are backed by an impact programme, that Mirjam Marks has been carrying out in (mainly Dutch) schools, but that could easily travel to other European schools and festivals. Check Climate_Clip instagram for updates or mail mirjammarks@gmail.com.