Videocamp Launches $400,000 Inclusive Education Film Fund

Author: Sarah Jane Rumford
Published: 2018/03/21 - Updated: 2026/05/30
Publication Type: Announcement

Contents: Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Publications

Synopsis: This report covers the launch of the Videocamp Film Fund, a US$400,000 social impact film fund announced in partnership with UNICEF at the United Nations during the 2018 World Down Syndrome Day Conference, with an open call for filmmakers to produce a documentary, fiction, or animation on the theme of inclusive education. The information is useful because it sets out the full eligibility criteria, timeline, jury, and accessibility requirements for entrants, while also gathering the research case for inclusive schooling drawn from a review of 280 studies across 25 countries. For people with disabilities, their families, educators, and filmmakers, it brings together a practical funding opportunity and the evidence behind why educating children with and without disabilities together matters, including the requirement that the winning film carry sign language, audio description, and captioning.

At a Glance

• 1 - Entries opened on 21 March and closed on 21 June 2018, with five shortlisted projects named on 1 September and the winning project announced on 21 September 2018.
• 2 - The fund recommends diverse production teams with good gender balance, ethnic and racial variety, and individuals with disabilities, and requires respect for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• 3 - Videocamp's free catalog of social impact films had already enabled 19,000 screenings across more than 90 countries, reaching some 800,000 people through its 40,000 registered users.

Topic Definition: Inclusive Education

Inclusive education is an approach to schooling in which children with and without disabilities learn together in the same mainstream classrooms, with the curriculum, teaching methods, environment, and support services adapted to meet the full range of student needs rather than placing children with disabilities in separate or segregated settings. It is grounded in the principle, affirmed by the UNESCO Salamanca Statement and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, that all learners have an equal right to quality education within their own communities. Beyond access, it emphasizes genuine participation and belonging, providing the therapeutic, instructional, and accessibility support that allows every student to take part on an equal basis.

Introduction

Videocamp Launches $400,000 Fund and Challenges Filmmakers to Create Inclusive Education Film

Today, at the UN on World Down Syndrome day, Videocamp launched the world's largest social impact film fund of its kind and called on filmmakers to create a film with the theme of "inclusive education". Videocamp, which has partnered with UNICEF on the project, made the announcement of the US$ 400,000 fund during an annual event, the World Down Syndrome Day Conference 2018, held at the United Nations in New York and organised by Down Syndrome International.

Main Content

Videocamp hopes the open call for bids will change the debate worldwide on inclusive education of children with disabilities. "Film is one of the most powerful mediums we can use to inspire and provoke change in our societies", says Carolina Pasquali, director of Videocamp. Videocamp will make the selected project available in their free catalogue of social impact films, which to date has enabled 19,000 screenings in over 90 countries.

Around the world, 1 billion people - or 1 in 7 people - have a disability. Studies suggest that there are anywhere between 93 million and 150 million children living with a disability globally, and around half of these children are out of school. Research shows that children with disabilities educated in inclusive environments are around 11 percent more likely to find competitive employment, and 10 percent more likely to live independently as adults, compared to children with disabilities who are not educated in inclusive environments.

David Proud, actor with disability and writer, says:

"Inclusive education simply cannot wait. I am delighted to support this because now is the time for necessary and empowering story-telling. Being excluded and segregated from children without disabilities would have changed my whole childhood. Now, in my work as a disabled actor and writer, I still find that the more diverse the team I am working with the richer the work will be. I urge disabled filmmakers, and other diverse filmmakers to apply."

Carolina Pasquali, Videocamp's director, comments:

"We're not looking for movies that trace the history of inclusive education, or analyze what makes an inclusive classroom. We're looking for a creative vision that will broaden perceptions about how all people, with and without disabilities, benefit from an inclusive education. And once the film is finished, it will be made available as part of Videocamp's free catalog of social impact films. We will help promote it - with the help of a global network of partners with the same focus - so that it reaches the widest possible audience."

Creative ways to tell this story are encouraged. Great films, such as Once and Super-Size Me, were created for less than US$400,000. Applications can be animation, documentary or fiction. Filmmakers, both established and aspiring, from all over the world are invited to apply. The Videocamp Film Fund 2018 recommends that production teams are diverse with good gender balance, ethnic and racial variety, and individuals with disabilities.

The selected film will be added to Videocamp's free catalog of social impact films. Anybody, anywhere can organize a screening of Videocamp's films. Videocamp believes film can turn town squares, classrooms, and even living rooms, into spaces for discussion and change. And even better - these discussions can inspire communities to take action after watching.

Entries open on the 21 March and close on 21 June 2018. The five shortlisted projects will be announced on 1 September, 2018. The selected project will be announced on 21 September, 2018. The selected film must have the following accessibility features and format: sign language, audio description and captioning.

Quote from Ambassador Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones, Veep)

"We need inclusive education for so many reasons. Firstly for the kids with additional needs so they can participate in the cultural and economic activities of the communities in which they live. There are thousands of bright and talented disabled children like my son, Olly who could shine if only we gave them an appropriate education. Secondly - the typical kids - they need to know who their neighbours are. Fear of disability is strong and we can do something about it. Videocamp aim to support talented filmmakers to tell the stories of the one billion people on earth who live with a disability and I for one, think that this will be an invaluable work."

UNICEF Global Senior Adviser on Children with Disabilities Rosangela Berman-Bieler:

"Every child has the ability to learn and has a right to do so. For the right to education to be realized, governments, families and communities, international development partners and private sector actors can join efforts and contribute their part. UNICEF is invested in the promotion of inclusive, equitable and quality education for all children and youth, which includes those with disabilities. We support countries to achieve concrete results in this area, for every child, everywhere. Children and youth with disabilities can no longer be left behind. This award will mobilise creative minds to generate an important, timely discussion on social inclusion and full participation of children and youth with disabilities through education."

The jury includes: award-winning African American filmmaker Yvonne Welbon (Chicken and Egg), Raúl Niño Zambrano (International Documentary Film festival, Amsterdam), Rosangela Berman-Bieler (UNICEF), Marcos Nisti (Alana), Paola Castillo (Chile Doc) and Cecilie Bolvinkel (European Doc Network).

What is Videocamp?

VIDEOCAMP is a free online tool that democratizes access to culture and information in order to enrich public discourse and distribute important films. From a filmmaker's point of view, Videocamp works as a promotional tool within a movie's distribution strategy. Using Videocamp, anybody can organize pop up screenings - in classrooms, living rooms and town squares, anywhere in the world. At the moment, Videocamp has 40,000 registered users, has enabled 19,000 screenings, which have impacted 800,000 people in over 90 countries.

Videocamp is part of Instituto Alana, a nonprofit civil society organization that brings together programs giving children the conditions they need to fully experience their childhoods. Instituto Alana is run by the Alana group, comprised of the Instituto, the AlanaLab - running social impact companies such as Maria Farinha Films - and the Alana Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in the USA, that has invested over US$ 6 million in research on several areas - including inclusive education and Down Syndrome - with partners such as the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) and Case Western University.

Videocamp Film Fund 2018 Timeline and Eligibility Criteria

• Theme: inclusive education
• Award: $400,000 to one entry selected by the jury

Entries:

• Must be either unfunded, or: if previously awarded other funds, they must comply with the terms of the Videocamp Film Fund, if these other funds are granted/received prior to the date of submission of your project to this Fund.
• May be in production, or not
• Can be documentary, fiction or animation
• Entrants must have: a) all the exclusive rights to the related work; b) I have the total artistic, budgetary and editorial control of the work; c) complete authority to sign up for Videocamp Film Fund
• All crew candidates should be 18 or more

Applicants Must Provide:

• Crew bios
• Film title, type (documentary, fiction or animation), length
• Project history (2100 characters words on stage of development), list of locations
• Summarising sentence
• Synopsis (3000 characters)
• Treatment (10000 characters)
• Why the project matters to them/how it originated (3500 characters)
• Whether it refers to or is based on another work (300 characters)
• Strategic plan (based on the model of The Impact Field Guide & Toolkit of Doc Society, max 20MB),
• Marketing and distribution strategy (3000 characters),
• How they plan to engage their audience (3000 characters),
• Work plan/schedule
• Budget spreadsheet,
• Misc: Any extra files (e.g. script)

Videocamp Best Practice Guide for Entrants

The VIDEOCAMP Film Fund emphasises consistency and values the entire filmmaking process, not just the final product. For these reasons, consider the points below when developing your proposal. Although it is not mandatory to incorporate these terms into your project during the selection process, they will play a role in proposal evaluation, and the winning team will be expected to uphold them.

Respect:

• For human rights, as established by the United Nations;
• For the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• For the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
• For labor laws and agreed work hours;

Code of conduct:

• Diverse team with good gender balance, ethnic and racial variety, and individuals with disabilities;
• Hiring of local teams;
• Close communication between team members;
• Use of safety equipment;
• Use of efficient equipment;
• Evaluation and reduction of environmental impact during production;
• Waste sorting during production;
• Use of carpools, public transport, and other alternative means of transportation;
• Healthy and sustainable food options on set.

Videocamp Film Fund 2017

The inaugural Videocamp Film Fund, ran nationally in Brazil in 2017. The R$1,000,000 ($310,000) award funded a film on the theme of "dialogue", which will be released in September 2018.

In 2017 the Videocamp Film Fund, sponsored by Coca Cola Brazil, had the theme "dialogue". Although Brazil's largest production companies entered, a small woman-led production company was selected. The film is called "Eleições" (elections) and uses allegory to comment on Brazil's current political situation, and the power of youth movements.

Statistics on Inclusive Education

The benefits of Inclusive Education have been well-documented and well-established academically, and through international bodies such as the UN, for decades. Yet progress across the world is inconsistent, and many children with disabilities remain segregated and excluded in education.

Read Alana's report on Inclusive Education, which systemically reviews 280 studies from 25 countries.

Studies have found that inclusive education can benefit children who don't have disabilities:

• Inclusive education helps reduce prejudice and discrimination between groups (e.g. children with and without disabilities) (Allport, 1979)
• Inclusive education fostered more friendships and less peer abuse, interviews with students with and without disabilities in Canada showed (Bunch and Valeo 2004)
• Students with and without disabilities either experienced no effects (58 percent of studies) or experienced positive effects (23 percent of studies) on their academic development as a result of being educated alongside students with disabilities. (Kalambouka, Farrell, Dyson, & Kaplan, 2007)

There is an established consensus that inclusive education benefits children with disabilities:

• Students with disabilities in fully inclusive placements were almost 5 times more likely to graduate on time than students in segregated settings (Schifter 2015).
• A study of more than 68,000 primary and secondary school students with disabilities found that, students who spent a larger proportion of their day with their peers without disabilities had higher their language and mathematic scores. (Hehir, Grindal, & Eidelman, 2012)
• Students with disabilities in inclusive education are 7.5% less likely to receive a disciplinary referral, 3.6% more likely to belong to a school group; 11.2% more likely to have competitive employment; 10% more likely to live independently (Marder et al., 2003; Wagner et al. 1993)

International Picture:

• In 1994, The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Conference on Special Needs Education issued a consensus report on the education of students with disabilities. This resulted in the Salamanca Statement. It states that "those with special educational needs must have access to regular schools."
• Drafted in 2006, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) binds its 161 signatory states to ensure that "persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live."

USA:

• In 2014, 44% of students with intellectual disabilities spent 40 percent or more of their school day in classrooms with peers without disabilities. This has grown from 27% in 1989.
• Students with disabilities were given the nationally-protected right to a "free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment" in 1974. (de Graaf, van Hove, & Haveman, 2014).

Europe:

• France, Germany, and Belgium continue to educate almost all students with disabilities in separate settings
• Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, and Portugal educate more than 80 percent of students with disabilities in inclusive settings,
• In England, about 50% if children with Special Educational Needs are educated in fully inclusive settings in 2010. (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2010; World Health Organization, 2011).

Brazil

• In 2003, inclusive education became part of the educational agenda in Brazil, replacing segregation.
• Enrollment of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms grew from less than 350,000 in 2007 to more than 750,000 in 2017.

An update on this story can be found at: Finalists announced for film fund on inclusive education.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Sarah Jane Rumford and published on 2018/03/21, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.