December 08, 2011
(Photo above by Steven Purcell)
On November 2nd, Michelle Obama presented IFP Alum Muhammad
Zamzam Fauzanafi with the President's Committee 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in recognition of Kampung Halaman, a non-profit youth media organization Zamzam co-founded in 2006. Eighteen-year-old Muchamad Fajar Ismail, a Kampung Halaman participant, was also in attendance.
Based in Yogykarta, Zamzam received his master’s degree in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester, UK. A few months later, he founded Kampung Halaman to promote media literacy to Indonesian youth, and to explore how visual media can be used as a tool for participatory research, education and empowerment.
Twelve youth programs from across the United States were recognized at the ceremony. Kampung Halaman was the only international awardee this year. Says Zamzam, now a Board Member at the organization:
“We help young people make their own media so they can learn how it is working and how it affects them, but most of all so they recognize that mainstream media treats young people as passive consumers of entertainment which is not related to their own lives and communities. Their ‘voice’ is rarely heard by mainstream media, so they need to make their own.”
To date,
Kampung Halaman has facilitated the production of more than 150 videos and other youth media projects that explore topics including multiculturalism, education, identity politics, religion, and the environment.
Photos:
Above right - Zamzam teaches a video production class at Kampung Halaman; Left - a young student practices the art of motion pictures.
IN THE VIDEOS BELOW: Learn more about Zamzam's work (English only), and watch him receive the award from First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House (Indonesian only).