Inspired by young people and their teachers in over 20 diverse countries and cultures, “The Curious” takes its title from the thousands of pupils eagerly watching BROKEN, posing questions and discussing a film we never conceived of being of major interest to 14+ year olds. In 2019, while on a mission to Kazakhstan, one of our translators, an international law student, took the initiative to ask a teacher friend who taught 14-16 year olds English, to set up a class in a small cinema in town. The cinema was not equipped with seats but some large cubes or an elevated stage to sit on. I think that was a very important detail because after our film was shown it facilitated a natural discussion guided by the teacher. What I heard was astounding. The 10 or eleven students showed profound interest in our film. Their questions and curiosity about international law went far beyond any of us at AdvocacyProductions could imagine.

 

The whole experience was a profound one and sparked what will soon be the release of an educational film for curious youths about international law.

 

In the meantime, hundreds of teachers and thousands of 14 to 16 years old put together their questions to a film made predominantly for academics. After a number of years of participative action research, we had a sample large enough to start analysing the gathered data from the field for this new film project.

 

What came out of this research project is a film in five parts based entirely on BROKEN which contains explanatory teaching materials to aide students learn about context, the international courts, the UN system etc. It will also contain teaching tools for teachers and educators.

 

A recent addition to the methodology of The Curious is Part V which is reserved for journalists and pedagogues to elaborate on how to read these materials and debunk myths.

This will be woven into a filmed webinar (like the third part of The Mandate) whereby
students will learn how to discern true from fake news in respect of international law.

The Curious still needs some primary research for Part V, but the filming via zoom will speed
up this final section.