Journal Three:Women and girls tell their stories through film and radio documentaries

Women and girls tell their stories through film and radio documentaries
From: UNICEF
Length: 00:18:36

I heard a very interesting topic yesterday on PRX, and I thought of sharing it on my blog.

The audio documentary I heard was discussing the importance of story telling. The interviewer interviewed three guest to share their stories and discuss the film ‘Where the world meet the sky’ which was viewed in a festival in the Unites States of America. The film is all about the transformation of a group of women living in a remote village. These women used their experience to speak out their challenges that confront, from prostitutions to their community’s neglective aids orphanages to fears of living in places with high HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The coming lines are brief summaries of what each guest said about the film.

Ann Cotton, Executive Director of the Campaign for Female Education, did not help with the film production, however she studied the cases in Africa very well. Cotton’s main goal is not only to diminish illiteracy but to give unheard voices, a space to express their worries. That’s why she liked the film because it revealed many problems faced in poor areas in Africa.

David Eberts, the director of the film discussed his challenges in trying to document his film. It was hard for him to ask women talk about their problems at first, that he asked his translators not to pressure on them. It did not come to his expectations that the women will talk freely about their problems concerning prostitution and diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

Joe Richman, award-winning independent producer, and executive producer of the radio production, spent huge time talking with teenage girls about AIDS during the film making. One of the cases who shared her problems asked him to broadcast poject only in the United States for privacy. When she was proven to be HIV positive, she decided not to hide her suffer any more, and agreed to broadcast the project in her region’s station.

The documentary showed a two minute part of the film in order to tackle on one of the devastating cases in the film. The case is a fourteen years old girl, who became a prostitute after the death of her parents from HIV. The girl tried to protect herself by using condoms but the men refused to buy her condoms. At the same time, she had no enough money to buy this product.

The documentary was very interesting in my point of viewm since it opened a new perspective on some cases in poor regions in Africa. It never came in to my mind, that a fourteen years olf girl will be a prostitue just to make ends meat. The documentary also made me more willing to see the real film.

The documentary was neither long nor short, since it had a very good content. The twelve minutes were very important untill the interview showed a part of the movie to allow her three guests to comment on. Here the three people talked almost the same, which made it boring somehow. If she only asked one’s opinion, maybe the director of the film, it would have been better.

The voice of Ann Cotton was not clear at all. It is clear that her mouth was very close to the microphone. Every times she exhales air, the sound becomes disrupted and not clear. Although I heard her part several times, still I cannot understand her first sentence. If she gave space between the microphone and her mouth, words would have heard clearly.

As for David Ebertsm the voice was still low but much more clearly than Ann Cotton’s voice, since he kept a good distance between the microphone and his mouth. Moreover, the delivery was really good and appealing, which I did not feel when Ann Cotton talked in the documentary.

Regarding Joe Richman’s voice, I felt it was the best of the three because it was comprehensible and the tone was good. I did understand his sentences quit well from the first time. The delivery was better than the other two.

There were not natural sounds in the background, which was good, since the voice was low for both Ann Cotton and David Ebertsm. Yet I would suggest the radio documentary to include some voices of African women in the background. It will be distinctive to hear their language in the background. Besides, the sound quality needs to be as good as the sound of the interviewer.