Faith Shorts is a global film competition run by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation providing young people with the opportunity to express their faith through film. The competition will culminate on the 22nd July at a star studded award ceremony held at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) hosted by British television presenter Adrian Chiles. The three winners will be flown to London to introduce their 3-minute films in person.
The powerful films produced deal with family, loss, overcoming adversity, personal devotion and hope. There have been entries from those without a faith telling us how their different beliefs inspire them, and stories from those who found inspiration in their religion.
The Jordanian films both had very strong messages, one by a young Muslim demonstrating how his faith inspires him to seek knowledge to combat the pattern he sees in the world of ignorance leading to intolerance and then hate. The other by a young Christian girl trying to find forgiveness in the aftermath of terror attacks in Jordan.
Entries have been shortlisted from around the world including Jordan, India, the USA, Egypt, Argentina, Pakistan, UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Lebanon, Singapore, and the Philippines. Young people of every background with no access to equipment took part – by sending their written “pitches”. The Foundation sent flip cameras to the best 50 entries in these countries to ensure every young person could bring their ideas to life.
These stories have impressed the global judging panel which includes Tony Blair, Jonathan Caplan QC, Hugh Jackman , Anil Kapoor, Amr Khaled , Jet Li, Kishore Lulla, Wendi Murdoch, Natalie Portman, Nik Powell , Queen Rania of Jordan, Rabbi David Rosen, June Sarpong, Deepak Verma and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation Fellows.
