If you have screened the film and would like to share your outcomes on this page please get in touch. Do you want to host a screening? Find out how.
Since the release of the film we have been working with schools and community groups for our impact campaign. The film is proving to be very effective at sparking discussion, debate and action. It is enabling a really important inter-generational conversation between Gen Z and their parents, carers and teachers.
Our role as filmmakers is to use storytelling to build understanding of what it is like to be growing up in the world today and an awareness of the many issues surrounding the adoption of digital technology. It is others who are using the film as a platform for debate and who are taking action in a bid to mitigate some of the negative aspects of digital technology. On this page we are collating feedback, best practice and outcomes from some of those organisations.
In 2021 Ozark’s Technical Community College screened I Am Gen Z and followed it with a panel discussion. As a direct outcome of that, The OTC Student Engagement Council was formed.
Their purpose is to be “a council run by students for students with the main goal of getting OTC students engaged with one another, the college and the community”.
In Nov 2022, Preston Schaeffer and Jane Cowden were guests on the Oh That’s Cool podcast where they talk in more detail about the Student Engagement Council and the role the film has played in that.
In october 2022 the director and producer of I Am Gen Z visited Missouri and it was with great pleasure that they were able to meet the student engagement council in person and speak at their inaugural town hall convocation.
Liz Smith and Chantelle de Carvalho with The OTC Student Council at their inaugural town hall convocation
At a screening sponsored by Swisscom, hosted by Girls In Tech Switzerland in collaboration with The Middle Road they invited a graphic artist, Anna-Lena König, to record her impressions of the film and the panel discussion. Here is a time-lapse recording of her putting it together:
Girls In Tech put together a really helpful summary of the key themes and learnings from the film for their blog.
In April 2022 the Middle Road introduced I am Gen Z in Switzerland, with a screening at Impact Hub Basel with community stakeholders. The film and subsequent discussion generated tremendous interest in taking action to expand community awareness and to deepen the conversation. By November, International School Basel had shown the film as part of their Grade 7 Wellbeing curriculum, PZ.BS (Pedagogical Center for Basel City schools) had translated the film into German, French and Italian to make the film accessible for all public schools across Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and the Middle Road had organized two more screenings with PZ.BS and Girls in Tech Switzerland featuring filmmaker Liz Smith in community panel discussions.
The Middle Road is a non-profit organization that empowers children, youth and families, through co-learning in safe spaces, to move towards a sustainable digital life. We help youth, parents and youth providers navigate a ‘middle road’ between the fear of online dangers and the fear of missing out on what technology offers.
To learn more about the Middle Road and/or organizing a community screening in Switzerland, please visit Middle Road and/or email them at welcome@middleroad.ch.
I Am Gen Z 