“Make it viral: Countering discrimination with awareness-raising media”

A hands-on workshop in media-making (no prior experience in media required – all are welcome!)

Date: 27th of January 2021

Time: 15:00 – 17:00 (CET) 

Venue: Online (Zoom)

Sign-up  here (by 20th January 2021, 17.00 CET)

In this workshop film- and media-maker Issa Shaker teaches you how to create an effective online awareness-raising campaign. His powerful film Delete It has had over a million views. The documentary film conducts an experiment on discrimination in the Netherlands. Issa will share in this workshop what the key ingredients are for creating such virality.

Background: Covid-19 and discrimination

The COVID-19 pandemic has, like many other (health) crises, given a stage for scapegoating, stigmatization and discriminatory acts across continents, with different groups as targets as the virus spreads across space and time. In the beginning of the Corona crisis, the blame was put on China and Chinese people. People of Asian appearance in Europe were reported to be discriminated against and stigmatized. A few months later we are witnessing in the Netherlands people of other non-Western background being blamed for the spread of the virus.

 As part of the project Countering the virus: Discrimination and protestation in multicultural Europe (funded by Utrecht University’s ‘Migration and Societal Change’ Focus Area; Principle Investigator: Maggi Leung) we have talked to a student who has had such a negative experience. We will share this with you in a short video.

 In the workshop we want to explore the possibilities of art and social media as spaces of protestation against stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Together with you we want to work on an awareness-raising campaign about these aforementioned negative side-effects of Corona. From the importance of a persuasive story to good audio-visual solutions, we will aim to increase the chances for our audio-visual campaign to go viral.

 Workshop facilitator 

Issa Shaker is an independent filmmaker with a passion for breathing life into untold stories. Over the course of his career, he has become widely recognized for his ability in generating viral content, 250 million views at least, as well as his coaching and consulting skills for journalists and other professionals.

Some of the organizations Issa has served with his media productions include the BBC, Al Jazeera, AJ+, Russia Today, RNW Media, University of Vienna and University of Wolverhampton. Currently, Issa owns Shaker productions and is working on different documentary and video projects in Dutch, English and Arabic.

No matter the topic or scope of the project at hand, Issa is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Few things excite him more than the opportunity to explore themes of social responsibility, government and humanity. Issa strongly believes that stories are the best way to deliver the message. Together with his technical expertise and storytelling techniques, he offers the complete package.

 Assisting in Workshop 

Ena Omerović is the co-founder of the Dutch NGO Common Frames. Common Frames develops and organizes film and media literacy projects for (young) newcomers. By teaching youth how to make media, she believes, they become more aware of choices makers make for their own media texts, making them more critical consumers and empowered citizens. She is also the coordinator of the Media and Information Literacy Expert Network founded by Deutsche Welle Akademie, and the producer of the Podcast Digital Rights Explored: Local Fights, Global Perspectives (coming out soon in 2021).