Mozilla Festival 2021 (March 8th – 19th, 2021)

Mozilla Festival 2021 (March 8th – 19th, 2021)

Multilingual films as digital rights teaching aids for activism in Asia-Pacific

With over 60% of the world's population and a thriving internet user community, the complex geopolitics of Asia-Pacific demands an active discourse of digital rights and digital security. However, the actual conversations are extremely skewed because of the lack of resources in different languages. Media and other communications resources are critical to effective campaigning, education and awareness raising for social activism. We are currently in the process of using the learning and practices — of films being used as digital activism tools in the past — and collaborate with regional film-makers to take such practices to the next level.

In this session, we will discuss how films can be effective teaching and training catalysts to boost digital rights and digital security activism in the region by sharing bespoke ideas, approaches and emerging processes designed for two of the prominent stakeholders — civil society and academic institutions.


We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:

The dates for MozFest incidentally fall in the middle of the project implementation for Tech Tales, our flagship project for digital rights and digital security films from the Asia-Pacific. So, this would allow us to engage with a wider audience from across the world and exchange knowledge with them. Additionally, it will also help us strengthen the larger media advocacy community by introducing them to the existing resources and the resources we will be releasing under open licenses in around July 2021. We anticipate that some of the regional film-makers and civil society partners who will be involved in our project will join the session and bring unique perspectives to the discussion. The engagements that we plan to structure with the help of other facilitators are going to be directed towards long-lasting collaborations and strengthening the larger human rights network.

How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:

Almost a year through the new reality that COVID has brought to us, we have organised, co-created and participated in a range of online events -- including meet-ups, webinars and podcasts. Considering the ground reality we also assume that many of the film screenings of the aforementioned project will be online for which we continue to prepare. We are experienced in managing small–large groups online and crafting interactive sessions. Thanks to many online events in this year including the Internet Governance Forum and Creative Commons, we also have learnt from other peers in the movement. We plan to collaborate with friends from the Mozilla community and ensure that our session is open, welcoming, accessible and engaging to all the participants.

What is the goal and/or outcome of your session?:

The topics that we would discuss and demonstrate would be of great use to everyone -- from newbies to professionals -- who work with media or would like to explore media for activism and advocacy. The specific outcomes are:

  • How to use films for social activism in digital rights and digital security 101
  • Provide case studies of work from the past: learning from failure/success and working models
  • Current approach and process
  • Discussion on dealing with real world issues of multilingual/multicultural societies and complex geopolitics
  • Use of open practices and collaborative practices including use of open source media tools and platforms