Diversity in Action Film Festival – coming to a campus near you!

Diversity in “Action!” Film Festival, January 14, 2011

Hello everyone!  Finally, the long awaited and anticipated update on my wish from TEDX Terry talks 2009 (my wish video can be viewed here). The TEDx Terry talk wish explored how we can find diversity within ourselves, rather than through comparing masses of people together, thus homogenizing entire communities of individuals.  Through the film festival (the materialization of my wish), students can communicate how their multiple identities can make a positive impact within other communities, as well as explore existing, at times subtle, obstacles to achieving a Canadian vision of multiculturalism.

At UBC we pride ourselves on the incredible diversity of our student body, but how much interaction is really occuring between groups of students from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds?  Not just casual interaction, of course, but interaction that advances cultural sensitivity, addressing issues of perceived conflict? How often are students encouraged to think deeply about critical issues in other countries and cultures?  

The Diversity in” Action!” Film Festival will provide a forum for discussion relating to these questions while facilitating improved cultural understanding, and more importantly, cross cultural collaboration.  Students will be invited to participate in the festival by contributing their own short films, on their experiences with multiculturalism either at UBC, in Vancouver, or elsewhere within Canada. 

Myself and the Terry team will be updating you throughout the summer and fall semester as this new and exciting event develops.

In the mean time, if you are interested in this project or are involved in other diversity initiatives please contact me at diversityinaction2010@gmail.com. I would love to hear your thoughts and work with you in making my wish a reality.