|
The World We Want, a documentary film featuring We the People: Project Citizen, won the Audience Choice Award at the American Film Institute's AFI FEST 2008 in Hollywood last November.
The film, which took producer and director Patrick Davidson two years to make, follows Project Citizen students from eight countries as they worked to solve a problem in their community through public policy action. The documentary culminates with the students attending the Project Citizen International Showcase in Washington, D.C., where students from more than 30 countries gathered to present their work before policy experts.
The students featured in the film were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Russia, Senegal, and the United States. They addressed a wide range of issues from restricting teenage gambling to banning trans fats in the school cafeteria and developing irrigation to secure clean drinking water.
Davidson premiered his film at the AFI FEST 2008, which screened more than 148 films and was attended by more than 40,000 people. He received his award at a special awards gala on November 8, 2008.
Film reviewer Jonathan Hickman of Entertainment Insiders called Davidson's documentary “the most positive film I’ve seen all year.”
Prior to the film's official debut, The World We Want was shown to more than 600 middle school students as part of the two-day Screen Education Program, an annual event sponsored and hosted by the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Davidson, principal composer Paul Hollman, and lead editor Joanne Nucho participated in a post-screening panel discussion with the students along with Kaci Patterson from the Center who answered questions about Project Citizen.
Funding for The World We Want came from private sponsors and investors.
Project Citizen teacher Heather Fowler, second from left, and one of her students from Shahala Middle School in Vancouver, are pictured with, from left, Richard A. Nuccio, director of the Center's Civitas International Programs, Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center, and Patrick Davidson, director and producer of The World We Want.
|
|
