Zonta Club of Cebu II hosts short film festival on teenage pregnancy

The Zonta Club of Cebu II, Philippines, launched a short film festival to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy, which coincides with early, child and forced marriages. 

Globally, millions of women and girls are affected by the issues and today, One in five girls are married off before the age of 18. To combat this issue, the club wanted to teach adolescents the adverse effects of teenage pregnancy. 

To entice the attention of the local adolescents, the club decided to organize a short festival. They were inspired by short videos found on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram stories and YouTube shorts.

By organizing a short film festival, the club hopes to present a variety of factual, science-based film documentaries that speak about the perils of teenage pregnancy that will change their audience's mindset.

The film festival is open to all amateur or professional videographers and filmmakers in the Philippines. All entries must be submitted by 25 November and will be judged by a panel of Cebuano filmmakers and women and children advocates. The entries will be judged based on theme integration, creativity and content, production value and viewer impact. Afterward, the winning entries will be uploaded on the club's YouTube channel and other social media platforms.