On February 1st, 2008, the Victoria International Film Festival in British Columbia, Canada, kicked off with its 4th annual Trigger Points Pacific Co-production Conference, a three-day film and television industry event attended by international broadcasters, film distributors, producers, directors and writers.

The agenda included panel discussions on creative television programming, the convergence of online and interactive filmmaking, and lively discussions about the future challenges and opportunities for content producers in the rapidly changing media landscape. Scheduled between the panel discussions were the one-on-one meetings and social mixers, where producers had the chance to talk with executives from broadcast networks, film and digital distributors about their respective projects.

These one-on-one meetings are the signature feature of the Trigger Points conference, providing a good opportunity to meet key television and film industry decision-makers. I had the pleasure of meeting with several broadcasters and internet distributors to talk about Voices of the Chichinautzin, and the possibilities for its distribution within Canada, the U.S., and Latin America as well as discussing the potential for future UNU Media Studio documentaries. I was very encouraged by everyone’s interest in the Voices of the Chichinautzin documentary and the Media Studio in general.

One of the main discussions among the conference participants was the convergence of internet and television and how this connects people and places together, making local stories global and global stories local. The synergy between documentaries and online learning can create engaging, educational tools that are a good fit for this changing landscape of digital content, where new opportunities to distribute important stories of social and environmental relevance outside of the traditional media outlets are continually evolving. In this way, good storytelling combined with in-depth educational content can work hand-in-hand by using these media tools to raise awareness about important global issues that affect everyone.

We’ll have some word in the weeks ahead as to where Voices of the Chichinautzin will be broadcast and distributed so that more people will have a chance to see this documentary.