The Masks We Wear
A powerful youth-led documentary about lived experiences of young people from the Army Welfare Services
Young people from the Army Welfare Services produced ‘The Masks We Wear’ a thought-provoking documentary that shares their own personal experiences through peer-to-peer interviews, exploring identity, belonging, and family roles inspired by discussions around International Women’s Day and mental wellbeing
Working alongside documentary filmmaker Karolina Raczynski, the young people used painting, collage, and photography to decorate face masks, enabling them to explore their identities visually and bring aspects of their personalities and experiences to life. The project also provoked conversations around neurodiversity and how that can affect identity, particularly in interpersonal relationships.
I loved learning how to do stop-motion animation.
Throughout the week, the young changemakers worked collaboratively to develop interview questions, conduct and take part in interviews, record voiceovers, sound effects, and learnt how they could incorporate stop-motion animation into the documentary.
The final film was premiered at a free public screening event at the West End Centre in Aldershot, providing the young people involved, their families and friends, and members of the public the opportunity to see the film first-hand before its online release.
View the film below.
It was a good experience to work with new people of different backgrounds and different attention spans.