26th March 2010: Youth Producing Change film screenings 3.30pm at the ICA

Calling all film-lovers and lovers of freedom of expression! Join me in this great opportunity to see 11 short films made by young people from across the globe as part of Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Their rarely-seen perspective encompasses a range of issues affecting the social, cultural, political and physical environments that they both come from and film in.

It is a chance to gain a particular 'view from within', as well as voice, on the personal issues and concerns that face the young film-makers in relation to their locality but which is inevitably linked to the bigger social and cultural pictures in which they are played out. Issues explored include resource scarcity and the impact on Ngarrindjer community values and customs in Australia, toxic waste affecting community health in the U.S, the challenges that curfews and containment pose for Palestinian teenagers, caste system restrictions on an Indian girl's education, a Haitian's experience of non-entity through lack of birth certificate, and an Afghan young man seeking asylum in the U.K. Referencing themes from sex to death, all of human life is here, as seen and presented by young people producing documentary material which could easily double as visual anthropology.

Some of the film-makers are going to be present and talking about their work and the whole 72 minute extravaganza can be had for the bargain price of £5 if the word 'CHANGE' is mentioned when ordering tickets at the ICA box office in person. Tickets can also be ordered over the phone on 0208 7930 3647.

Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

View the trailer online here.

Listen to a podcast interview with the Youth Producing Change Filmmakers.

Afghanistan's hidden treasures at the British Museum

It's finally here! I've been waiting with eager anticipation to get to see the treasures of Afghanistan in this new exhibition at the British Museum. This amazing folding crown belonged to a nomadic group buried at Tillya Tepe in Afghanistan in the 1st century. Designed to be portable to suit the nomadic lifestyle, it's 21st century travels have brought it to the UK to become a star exhibit in the 'Afghanistan' exhibition, running until 3rd July 2011. Spanning the centuries BC to AD, the material culture exhibited describes both diverse and mingled cultures within a region that historically provided one of the meeting points of East-West travel, trade and conquest. The existence of the exhibition's collection in itself tells a story as objects were secretly stored to save them from destruction in recent histories of civil war and Taliban rule. This risky venture ensured their survival, preserving a cross-section of lives and times descriptive of Afghanistan's cultural, historical and geographical place and space. They also provide a window through which to consider wider, present-day experiences, and their expression in material cultures, of political and economic movements, cultural mixity, ways of living, and forms of belief and power.

For more details go to http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/afghanistan.aspx