The experiences and imaginations of young writers of colour and various cultural backgrounds were made into a book and a dvd film. Citizenshift of the National Film Board hosted the dvd launching and screening. It was a full theater with many youth even sitting on the aisles and standing at the back to view the short films and participate in the panel question and answer period. The young multiracial and multicultural backgrounds of the writers: Marge Lam, Indira Dutt, Anisha Abdulla and, Hari Alluri who answered the crowd's questions were a reflection of the audience too. Their personal experiences were their source of inspiration for their stories and films: Lam relating her health to Nature's healing effect; Abdulla her eyes and dancing remind her of her deceased father; Dutt explored her feelings of being mixed race; Alluri had some incident with police when he was younger. The launching was introduced by Vinita Srivastava from Ryerson Journalism. The writers were given funding to create visual imagery of their poetry and prose for the short films which enhanced their stories. Within a week, they had to start and finish their short film to be part of the dvd. Technical assistance and collaboration helped them complete their piece. Those in the audience were probably inspired by the screening and applauded after, possibly hoping to follow their footsteps and apply for grants to do their stories. The attitude seems to be "if we can do it, you can do it" and thanks to grants and the growing ease of making amateur videos and broadcasting them on the internet, more youth of colour may just do that. Mainstream North America, of course due to population and wealth, is still dominated by white or non-colour mentality in education, media, and entertainment, but this is probably not due to racism but rather often a lack of opportunity and funding. As more coloured youth grow up with the cheaper accessibility of the internet, video making should become more common and reflective of the multicultural origins of Canadians. Thanks to grants and support of the National Film Board of Canada, some may even become commercialized and make a career in the creative field through films. Later, refreshments were served by the Afghan Womens Catering Group feeding the young crowd with Middle Eastern and Asian appetizers.
