Peter Hegedus
Peter Hegedus’ filmmaking career spans over 25 years. His work is characterized by a commitment to social justice be they documentary or drama. Peter is also the Deputy Director for Research & Engagement at the Griffith Film School, Brisbane, which is the largest film school of its kind in Australia. Peter’s work has been shown at major film festivals around the world including one of his documentaries Inheritance a Fisherman’s Story being shortlisted for the Academy Awards and his latest 360 immersive story Sorella’s Story having been selected for competition at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival. www.peterhegedus.com
Story Sanctuary: Building Audio-Visual Literacy for YoungPeople from Diverse
Backgrounds
The Story Sanctuary has been developed to showcase storytelling as a powerful, transformative methodology that creates real impact for youth in marginalized communities. Studies show that individuals and communities can achieve sustained change through equipping young people with skills and opportunities to take charge of their life stories with positive and wide-reaching impact.
At Griffith Film School, we are working with students (ages 13-16) with diverse backgrounds from four different high schools, running a series of workshops to teach them storytelling using the medium of film, animation and photography. After the workshops, the students exhibit their work at a special Story Festival sharing their stories about identity and culture. The Story Sanctuary is a safe platform for young people from both marginalized and mainstream communities to share and generate stories. It also supports the emergence of the next generation of story-makers, innovators and influencers who bring about social and cultural change through storytelling.
As part of the presentation, I will unpack the learning of our unique teaching methodology. Further, having evaluated real data gathered during the program, using personal and powerful video diaries of students, we will demonstrate the impact it has had on the young people who have participated in the project.