Our story of how the project came together, told by the two of us — starting with an idea on a flight home, and ending an open call to youth everywhere.
Side A · Zahra Vink · Co-Director & Producer
It started on a flight home.
Zahra on growing up across different communities, what was missing in Bahá’í films, and sending that first voice note.
The idea for the film first popped into my head just over a year ago, when I was flying home from my FIFO job in the Pilbara. My mind started wandering and reflecting on my experiences growing up as a Bahá’í. Growing up, my family moved around quite a bit, so I got to experience many different kinds of Bahá’í communities. In some places, you walked into the room and immediately felt at home — people were warm, you made friends easily, and this sense of deep love and belonging made you want to get involved. In others, it could sometimes feel lonely. You’d turn up to gatherings and still feel like you’re on the outside. That difference in the spirit of each community stayed with me: how much the experience you have in your community affects how much you want to participate and contribute. I also realised how the experience of different youth within the same community can be drastically different — in different groups, different things draw people together, and make them close. Often times, youth feel isolated not because their peers are trying to exclude them, but because their peers are just very wrapped up in their own strong connection to each other. In this way, some youth can feel a strong sense of Rúhi’l Bahá’í in their community, and other youth in the same community may struggle to feel it as much.
How welcome you feel in your community changes everything — how much you participate, and how much you contribute.
Zahra
02 · YOUTHZahra
What other youth said
When I was in university and organizing international youth initiatives for university Bahá’í clubs, I had also heard similar sentiments. Some youth I met had great groups of friends where doing things together felt natural, and you could tell how excited it made them to serve. But a lot of youth felt really isolated. Some were the only young person in their whole community, and others felt out of place because of their background or race, or because their community was trying hard but things just felt a bit stiff and disconnected. When you feel alone in your community or in your efforts, it’s difficult to feel as passionate about the service you want to engage in. Sitting on that plane, I thought about how amazing it would be to give my friends who felt isolated a sense of hope through sharing what the potential of their communities could look like through film.
I wanted to give my friends who felt alone a sense of hope.
Zahra
03 · GAPSZahra
Two gaps
I’ve loved filmmaking for a long time, and sitting there on the plane, I was thinking about gaps in the Bahá’í film space that this project could fill. From what Raina and I have seen, most Bahá’í video content is either in a documentary style, describing community activities, or in a descriptive style, sharing Bahá’í history, facts, and Writings. We realised that there is a lot less content out there that leans more towards the artistic, cinematic, and emotional side of expression, and thought that this was a gap that our project could fill. The second gap we saw was the absence of youth-led international-scale Bahá’í film projects. Usually, projects of this scale or larger lean more on recruiting the most experienced Bahá’í professionals to make the best production possible. We wanted to give youth who might usually get passed over for these kinds of opportunities a chance to show what they can do, and to collaborate on something beautiful together. We are so lucky in this project to be able to collaborate with youth who have a diversity of skill ranges and backgrounds — we have people on the project who are seasoned experts in their field and have shot footage for previous Bahá’í films, to budding professionals who will be using this project as a first chance to share their skills and talents.
We wanted to make something artistic and moving first, made by youth for youth, but something anyone could enjoy.
Zahra
04 · MESSAGEZahra
A voice message
As soon as the plane landed and my phone picked up airport wifi, I sent a long voice message to Raina. I told her about the whole idea, and asked her if she’d be up for co-directing it with me. I was so excited that she was just as keen for it as I was!
As soon as I got to the ground and had wifi, I sent a long voice message to Raina.
Zahra
TAPE DECK · SIDE A COMPLETE
Flip to Side B
Hear how Raina heard the idea in Wollongong, and how we decided to open the project up to everyone.