Film and Video
A short about Romeo and Juliet in Mostar, 2006.
Documentary Work
In addition to play production and research Youth Bridge Global produces documentary films about some of the social issues that the play participants face.
Ri-belle
Filmed in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Ri-Belle tells the dual story of Ivy League students who have volunteered to teach in public schools in the islands and the history of education in the post-nuclear Republic. Home to the Ronald Reagan Nuclear Missile Defense Test Site and the largest atomic explosion in the history of mankind the Marshall Islands have shared a unique relationship with the United States over the past 50 years. Straight from the Ivy tower, these students work within a school system that has suffered from neglect and haphazard planning. Rapid urbanization and population growth over the past half century have made the job of educating the youth in a globalized world nearly impossible. After 13 years of post-WWII nuclear testing, the U.S. plan for ‘nation-building’ has floundered. With the Peace Corps gone the locals have turned to a small Dartmouth College pilot program for guidance in the art of teaching and help on the path towards self sustainability.
Featuring interviews with current and former volunteer teachers, dignitaries, historians, professors, students, and the president of the Marshall Islands Ri-belle is both a moving documentary and a tale about the power of individuals to create change.
With:
- Kessai H. Note - President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
- Andrew Garrod - Professor of Education/Dartmouth College
- Jack Niedenthal - Liaison to the People of Bikini Atoll (Radio Bikini)
- Biram Stege - Secretary of Education
- Greta Morris - U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Romeo and Juliet in Mostar
In the mid-1990s the Dayton Agreement stopped the fighting and started the segregation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1995 the education curriculum has been divided along three ethnic lines – Croat, Bosniak, and Serbian. Children now attend school in separate shifts with separate curriculums. What was once a unified and integrated school system has now been carved into factions. Despite this, one school on the western side of Mostar has begun a mission of forced integration.
War and the disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina affected its educational system more than in any other country in Eastern Europe. Ethnic cleansing has produced predominantly ethnically homogenous areas and enabled the fragmentation of education along ethnic lines. The proclaimed Serbian Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna established their own educational systems, oriented towards Belgrade and Zagreb respectively. This led not only to a deep social change in the form of the segregation of the young generation, but also to a structural re-organization of education.
Out of the unified pre-war system three independent educational systems emerged, teaching different languages, histories and ethics, based on different laws and curricula. Three and a half years of fighting throughout the country, ethnic cleansing and intensive long-time shelling of towns also contributed to a serious decrease in the quality of education. Over the whole country educational institutions suffered from deprivation of resources: facilities, teaching material, and teachers. These developments had long-time consequences, outlasting the Dayton Peace Agreement . The development of the educational system is deeply intermingled with the overall situation in BiH.
This makes projects dealing with education for tolerance and understanding, human rights education, civic education and the like extremely difficult. School is shaping images of the young generation and their perceptions of people belonging to the respective "other groups". Without children with open and moderate attitudes, the long-term chances for a democratic and stable Bosnia and Herzegovina are very low.
In the summer of 2006 Youth Bridge Global teamed up with members of the Moscow Art Theater School and Harvard University to produce Romeo and Juliet with youth from warring ethnic backgrounds. This film tells the story of segregation and the 8 weeks of 2006 the saw Croats befriend Muslims to support the future development of BiH.
