Massar Project held on Tuesday a special celebration at the Arab Cultural Center in Kafarsouseh for selecting the best short film produced by youths as part of the contest organized by Massar in cooperation with the Danish Cultural Center in November 2009.

The panel of judges, which consisted of director Firas al-Dehni, director Reem Ghazzi and actress Mai Iskaf, selected the film "We're All Girls" by students from al-Rabi'a al-Ansariyah School as the best film in terms of idea, spontaneity in acting and relaying the film's message.

The 3-minute film expresses the thoughts of six female students under the age of fourteen and their outlook on life, stressing that learning and studying guarantee a better future for a person.

48 students from 8 schools participated in the contest through the Children and Youths Film Studio workshops, with each school forming a team and choosing an idea, writing a script, acting, directing and adding sound effects within two days, with one precondition: the move must have a constructive dimension.

The Children and Youths Film Studio project is a mobile studio developed by the children and youth department at the Danish Film Institute, touring the world to organize workshops.

Content Development Officer at Massar Project Massa al-Mufti said the project aims at developing the skills of children, and that this experience's goal is to allow youths to make movies in their own words with their own vision.

In turn, Public Relations Director at Massar Project Anas Darkawi noted that this cinematic experience is unique and is different from Massar's conventional programs, adding that Massar is ready to cooperate with any party whose activities share the Project's idea of nurturing creativity in children and youths.

Massar Project is a comprehensive national educational program aimed at Syrian youths from ages 5 to 21, and is one of the projects of the Syria Trust of Development. It is a non-profit project that relies on the techniques of unconventional learning to inspire youths across Syria and involve them in the issues that concern them.

Massar employs an interactive environment full of activities and challenges in order to motivate children to innovate and help them understand the world better, in addition to bolstering their sense of personal responsibility and citizenship.

H. Sabbagh-SANA