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A local
non-profit scored big this week when it picked up $119,595 in a grant from the
United States Institute of Peace. Marie Acemah is the executive
director and cofounder of Media Action .
-- (Media Action 1 : 33 "Media
Action is a non-profit that works to help young people depict their cultures on
film, both in Alaska and in East Africa. So we applied for this U.S. Institute
for Peace grant and we are just utterly delighted to win it in order to do a
film festival in northern Uganda, films that are made by young people from the
region that have been directly influenced by the conflict that has been in the
region for decades .")
Acemah
(ah-chay-mah) and her two sisters founded Media Action two years ago, but
Acemah said the group is now run by a board of directors. The
group has an impressive resume of films on topics ranging from interior Alaskan
villages, street boys living in Tanzania
and a history of Kodiak's Filipino community. They are also wrapping up filming
for a documentary about Pebble Mine.
Acemah
said the grant money will go toward the group's upcoming project
in Uganda.
-- (Media Action 2 : 35 "So
they'll be two trips to Uganda, and the first trip will be a planning trip
because we have several local partners working on this project with us,
although we are the actual grant recipient. And then there will be a three
month implementation trip that will likely be sort of early summer. And during
those three months we will be doing three film workshops with youth who are in
post conflict situations and they'll each make a film, each participant, on a
peaceful solution that they identify. And then there will be a film festival, a
regional film festival in the West Nile area of Uganda.")
Despite the trip being almost a
year away, Acemah said the organization will be very busy in the
months to come.
-- (Media Action 3 : 44 "We're
right now in the process of planning some fundraisers and some sort of
community engagement activities because while we got a substantial grant, it
does not cover the budget for the project. So we're really, really looking for
fundraising opportunities, so anyone who's interested in either contributing
financially or helping in another capacity is more than welcome to contact me.")
In addition to
fundraising events, Acemah said she encourages community members
to look for upcoming film screenings of Media Action's latest work.
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