SXM hosts its first Child Rights Film Premiere & Competes in UNICEF Child Rights Film Festival.

April 4, 2018

More than 100 children took part in the Child Rights Awareness Campaign hosted by UNICEF and MECYS

Great Bay, St. Maarten – On Friday, April 6, 2018, five (5) films will be premiered at the Belair Community Center as the highlight of an awareness campaign that has been more than two months long. This campaign is a creative way to engage teachers, parents, students, and the community to learn more about child rights. The six-step process includes a local premiere which will determine which school will go to Curacao for the largest children’s film festival in the region and compete against the other Dutch Caribbean islands.
The process included the training of teachers and school coordinators about child rights and ways they can communicate that to their students. The students were then asked to make a drawing of the right that they identified with the most and thereafter was an exhibition held at the schools. The winning drawing, which was voted for by the children only, was then used as the basis for creating a script and filming took place. The film coach Anderson Percival, a videographer, helped with the scripting, filming, and editing of the films. The films feature the children only and reflect their thoughts.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports and in particular the Department of Youth has been instrumental in facilitating this project. Participating schools include Oranje School, Methodist Agogic Center, Belvedere Community School, Youth Council, No Kidding with Our Kids Foundation, and Christian Hillside School. Teachers and school coordinators have been quite active in going through this entire process. There are more than 100 children between the ages of 9-13 that took part in this process.
On the evening of the premiere, all participating schools, teachers, and members of the public will be able to see the films which are each 5 minutes long. There will be entertainment from Breakthrough Talent winners and judges are from a variety of industries on the island. Winners at the premiere will leave the following week to Curacao to take part in the regional film festival where the regional winner will be announced. This will take place on April 14.
UNICEF piloted this program in St. Eustatius last year as it has been doing this film festival in the Netherlands for the past five (5) years. Due to its enormous success, all six islands of the Dutch Caribbean are participating in the Regional Competition this year. This is said to be the largest children’s film festival in the Caribbean.

There is no entrance fee and the public is encouraged to come with families to experience St. Maarten’s young talent. Seating is limited and so those who would like to attend are asked to please email the project coordinator This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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