Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF) showcased several faith film shorts at BAFTA, made by young people from across the world for the second year running.
TBFF runs a programme of making short films of young persons’ experiences of their own faith from all over the world, this year there were 60 entries from India alone. Judges to select the best films are represented by all major faiths and presenting the awards were Dawn French, Nik Powell and Omid Djalili. The best overall film award went to a Baha’i Nadim Merrikh from Canada, Be the Change You want to See, a film highlighting the need for good deeds not just words and more importantly to be always progressive in time, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7PnPPEUw70
There was a short debate among a panel which included Lord Puttnam, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Tony Blair, whose message in all this work is to tap into the youthful minds still free of human made prejudices and help strengthen their own faith with the inspiration it gives them and then get the youngsters to interact across faiths where they find the commonalities of their convictions, albeit in different languages and with different names of God.
Anil Bhanot
7 December 2011