VIDEO-DNEVNIK: the pilot

The mission of Video-dnevnik is to present a picture of daily life by inviting people to participate in a video diary project. The title is drawn “dvevnik,” the Russian word for diary. Video-dnevnik is a tool for understanding everyday civil society.

Video-dnevnik is a mosaic of fates, faces, and families. The first section of this growing encyclopedia will cover Belarus, Ukraine, and Sweden. It will focus on the fates of individuals and families, and allow the viewer to make further analysis and to draw conclusions.

Participation in the Video-dnevnik project is voluntary. Local representatives of the project provide participants with instruction in the use of basic video equipment, lend cameras to participants, and provide videotapes. Professionals edit the material provided by participants into a standard ten-minute format.

Video-dnevnik is a democratic project; it will provide a platform that presents people and their situations in a non-hierarchical way. Video-dnevnik is an example of the ways that developments in new media can enhance local voices and enlighten society, regardless of societies’ new “walls” and national borders.

The Video-dnevnik project has a policy of neutrality toward the opinions presented by participants, but reserves the right to exclude material that contains, for example, hate propaganda or intentional misinformation.

The Video-dnevnik project does not censor participants’ opinions, but reserves the right to exclude material that could harm the participant or the project as a whole. Excluded material will be given back to the participant.

The aim of Video-dnevnik is to give voice to as many people as possible and to handle their diaries generously – in the same generous way that the participants contribute, opening their lives to viewers.

Video-dnevnik will be presented as a multilingual interface on the internet and as a DVD. Parts of the project will be further developed into a documentary film. The main sponsor of the Video-dnevnik pilot is the Swedish Institute.

Partners in the project are: Telefilm Studio, Minsk, Belarus; Internews Agency, Kiev, Ukraine;
and Interactive Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. (crac?) UR? SVT? SFI?, Documentary Film School at Hoola Folkhögskola.