Het eerste DigiTale Festival (Haagse Hogeschool)

On April 25th, in Filmhuis Den Haag, as part of the Peacebuilding, Justice and Human Rights Minor, IPM students presented short 2 min comprehensive stories called DigiTales. These stories are made completely by the student's own intellect, voice-over, creativity, video, and other visual media to communicate powerful and resonating messages about different topics and issues in relation to this minor.

The Keynote Speaker for this event was no other than a LGBTIQ+ rights defender and media specialist from Kyrgyzstan, Zhanna. 

As an acclaimed defender of human rights herself, Zhanna is currently staying in Shelter City The Hague due to persecution. Shelter City is a global movement of cities founded by Justice & Peace Netherlands that provide temporary safe spaces to human rights defenders at risk.

This event was hosted by IPM students Luis Muñoz Serra; Rintje Wijngaard and Demi van Haarlem from Facility Management. The official event was at 01.00-03.30 PM and was powered by Filmhuis Den Haag. After the official part of the program, there was a Meet & Greet. Drinks and snacks are available. The DigiTale Festival ended at 05.00 PM” .

For hosting of this event the Facility Management student following the M&O Honours programme reacted:

"It was a good experience and fun to work with another faculty. Also it was interesting to see the DigiTales the students made. Thanks for this opportunity."

Program

The DigiTales were divided into 5 topics:

- How do we see each other?
- Refugees
- LGBTQ+
- Women’s Rights
- Human and other Rights

Students chose their own topic based on the contents provided by the Minor Peacebuilding Justice & Human Rights (IPM). From the 26 contributions, 23 were screened in Filmhuis Den Haag. After each topic there was a Q&A with the students about their submission led by one of the lecturers from the Minor.

Closing remarks came from Mi Jung van der Velde, coordinator of the Minor PJHR.

Jari Kösters, Employee Events informed:

Filmhuis Den Haag is very happy that we, in collaboration with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, could offer students from The Hague a stage to show their own films.

Workshop

The DigiTale workshop was set up as a pilot. Students have followed the four days’ workshop. They worked very hard to tell their story. The most difficult part was probably the personal perspective. I hope you agree with me after seeing their DigiTales, that it is an excellent way to use for advocacy stories.

During the introduction of this method, colleagues doubted the duration of the film. By the evaluation of this section of the Minor, Davin Bremner, lecturer stated:

"I initially told students that I was skeptical of the DigiTales concept, because I worry about what is lost when people try to tell important stories in very short, limited formats. But after seeing the great results of the students’ DigiTales, I understood the concept better, my reservations were resolved, and I learned from the students that a very short but very creative and honest portrayal of a difficult issue can be engaging and impactful. I was well impressed, and I made sure to tell them as a group that I had changed my mind"

The openings DigiTale can be watched here: Variety by Mees Kuiper.

Some of the other videos can be found on this YouTube channel: 

Minor Peacebuilding, Justice & Human Rights THUAS - YouTube

Photo’s: 

Roya Varjavandi (lecturer IPM) and Berber Schouw & Soraya Ingenhoest (Studentassistants).

Hanna Mitra Rambaran