Introduction
Mouth That Roars (MTR) is a charitable, not-for-profit company, set up with the sole purpose
of training young people in media who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to media resources. MTR
enables young people who are misrepresented within society, a space to be heard and a medium in
which they can voice their thoughts and feelings. Through media, MTR supports young people to
develop self-esteem, self-confidence, self-awareness and motivation. We provide a learning
environment that increases young people’s awareness of their community; wider social issues and
encourages cultural exchange, through the process of filmmaking and teamwork.
For more info click here to visit Mouth That Roars website.
What is Our Everyday Lives?
Our Everyday Lives (OEL) is a project that produces films and resources by young people
living in areas of disadvantage in the Middle East and North Africa for all young people and
the wider community.
Why OEL?
Mouth That Roars has directed this project to these countries because for many years there
has been extreme political upheaval between neighbouring countries and the West. This project
does not aim to show a rose tinted view of people’s lives but to represent the reality of their
lives & expand people’s knowledge. In addition the counter-effect of this is to hopefully
enable us to look at our own lives in a different way. Therefore the aim of this project is to
challenge our views and offer another point of view, and most importantly provide a platform
in which young people can represent their own lives.
Our opinions of other cultures are generally formed and influenced by what we see in the
media rather than from first hand experience. Our values and norms evolve from information fed
to us on a daily basis via different mediums. Often we describe other people’s lives, without
even having met them. Depending on where we have gained our information, these perceptions can
be wrong, misguided or fuel prejudice. ‘Our Everyday Lives’ invites us to explore how real our
perceptions of different cultures is and aims to increase global awareness by provoking dialogue
about local and global identity; our own and that of others.
In recent years, MTR has recognised the need for young people in the UK, regardless of cultural
background, to be more aware of the lives of young people from other countries. In particular, to
challenge some of our young people to see beyond ‘the NIKE and GAP generation’ and recognise that
success and quality of life isn’t always based on material objects. To understand that life is
richer beyond the material world is a valuable lesson for anyone growing up in the West to be aware
of. MTR believes that we can find out so much about ourselves and our environment, by seeing other
ways of living.
Project so Far
OEL has produced many films made by young people in countries like Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Kurdistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and India. OEL is looking to expand this work and develop sustainable media projects in certain areas within these countries and throughout the Middle East and South Asia in order to develop networks between these young people to share knowledge and experience.
Please click on various countries for project details
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