(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries in Peru have launched their first film competition called “Regálanos tu historia” (Give or gift us with your story). The competition was organized through the Salesian production house TVP. The national competition aims to stimulate creativity and increase critical skills. Above all, the competition motivates youth to be the protagonists of their own stories.

The competition was aimed at young creatives from all of the Salesian centers in Peru. The participants were called to express, in an original way and with inspirational messages, the theme of the Salesian Rector Major’s Strenna 2018 entitled, “Lord, give me this water (Jn 4:15). We cultivate the art of listening and accompanying.”

“For this reason, we want young people to make the Strenna theirs. We want them to both understand it and share it through their own experience,” says Salesian Brother Cristian Becerra, provincial delegate for social communication. “Young people today think more with images than with words, and what they know how to do best is to tell stories.”

Five short film finalists were selected among all entries and presented on May 13. The first among them was “El gesto” by Ebert Efrain Gamarra Huaycochea from the Salesian Institute in Cusco. The film presented the need for small gestures in family life. A single gesture can make a big change is the final message of the film. The second film chosen was “Fuente de esperanza” by Fernando Marcelo Vera Cabrera, also from Cusco.

The third film was by Renzo Moreno Quino from the Salesian school Rosenthal de la Puente in Magdalena del Mar. The fourth film chosen was “Nuovo Don Bosco” by Ricardo Campana Moscoso from the Salesian Institute in Cusco. The fifth short film was by Adrián Unda Vivanco, from the Salesian school San Francisco de Sales in Lima, and was entitled “Sharing among friends.”

Film is a powerful medium that can communicate, educate, elevate and inspire viewers. The film competition was the celebration of youth in a positive and inspiring way, narrating stories of young people who face challenges and struggles in life with courage, determination and faith to emerge as inspiring individuals. The film competition is a unique tool to talk to youth in the language and setting that they connect with so easily.

Peru faces high levels of income inequality and has 22 percent of its population living in poverty, according to the World Food Programme. Poverty levels are significantly higher in rural areas but urban areas struggle most with inequality, most notably metropolitan Lima. Poverty in the country is made worse by a shortage of productive farmland and a lack of job skills among women entering the workforce, as well as a lack of adequate housing, nutrition and education.

According to the World Food Programme, over the past decade hunger and poverty have significantly decreased in Peru, thanks to consistent economic growth, investments in infrastructure, education and health, and an expansion of social programs. One of the country’s greatest achievements was the halving of chronic child malnutrition, currently at 13.1 percent. However, rates still vary widely among regions, reaching peaks as high as 33.4 percent in remote rural areas in the Sierra and Amazon regions. Among indigenous people, especially in the Amazon, stunting rates have not decreased in the past 10 years.

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Sources:

ANS – Peru – “Gift us your story”: a short film competition

World Food Programme – Peru

ANS photo