Falmouth journalist student wins coveted funds to film Mozambican landmine victims

Zoe Graham, a student on the MA International Journalism course at University College Falmouth has been awarded one of only six 2010 One World Student Media Funds worth £1000 that is enabling her to produce a film documentary on landmine victims in Mozambique and how they cope with this life-altering trauma.

As part of the One World Student Media Programme the funds enable student journalists and filmmakers access to make media visits to a developing country and experience the challenges that come with making media overseas. One World Media awards between five and ten bursaries each year with a number of films that have received their support over the past 10 years going on to success on the festival circuit and beyond.

Landmines are the third leading cause of amputations in Mozambique and continue to pose a threat 18 years after the decades of civil war. Zoe application caught the judging panels' eye with her intention to show that in Mozambique disability is not just a health or rehabilitation problem but a complete socio-cultural problem, often shrouded in silence, denial, stigma and discrimination.

About Zoe Graham's proposal, the panel said: "It was a strong proposal addressing an important topic.  Issues relating to disability in developing countries do not often attract coverage. We were impressed by the level of research done, and the contacts established with people on the ground, and we greatly look forward to seeing the finished film."

Entries to apply for the bursary were invited earlier in the year when students from BA(Hons) in Journalism and MAs in Multimedia Broadcast Journalism, International Journalism and Television Production joined forces to participate in a two-day workshop run by One World Media, aimed at strengthening reporting and filmmaking in the developing world. The workshops gave the media students valuable training in working in culturally different locations and UCF was selected as one of only five respected institutions to be eligible for the government-sponsored travel bursaries.

Speaking of her success Zoe commented: "It is such an honour to have been given this award. I also feel a great responsibility to the land mine victims whose stories I am going to tell and I hope this documentary will be a way of honouring them."

Zoe is currently filming the documentary over a month in Mozambique and will raise questions including: how do landmine victims cope with life after an event that has potentially alienated them from their communities and loved ones? What is actually being done to help them? Are there stories that show hope? As a central element she will follow the days of two landmine victims and include their testimonials as well as those of non-governmental organisations, government officials as well as the Mozambican population.

"We were delighted to be selected as one of a small number of universities to take part in the One World scheme." said MA International Journalism Course Leader, George Matheson, who has reported from many developing countries. "Students from across journalism really enjoyed the two-day workshop and learned a lot about documentary making. Zoe's success in winning a bursary was the icing on the cake."

One World Media is a UK-based charity funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development that aims to increase global understanding through effective use of the media. The organisation believes that the media offers a unique means of highlighting developing issues, and of promoting democracy and fair government worldwide.

For further information about Media courses at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/media, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213730.

For further information about One World Media, visit http://www.oneworldmedia.com/

UCF is part of the Cornwall Skillset Media Academy - a network of institutions that has been identified as a centre of excellence for creative media education and training. For more information about Skillset, visit http://www.skillset.org/

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2013/2014 that will be unique to the South West.

The University College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby Dip CIPR MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email:  jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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