What could the Dalai Lama and George Clooney possibly have in common?

It turns out that the spiritual guru and the “Ocean’s Eleven” heartthrob are teaming up to advocate an initiative called Film Your Issue, a competition in which young people create films about world issues such as poverty and AIDS.

Film Your Issue is an unprecedented outreach inviting young Americans to make 30- to 60-second “issue films,” which can either be live-action or animated. The noble vision of the organization is to “engage them in the public dialogue about pressing issues of importance, locally or nationally.”

Given the ever-increasing presence of visual media in our culture, this promises to be a successful venture for a worthy cause.

Film Your Issue came into being three years ago, with Founder HealthCliff Rothman’s idea that young people could make their own films on any issue in order to promote social change. “We want to know what young people think, we want to empower the next generation of leaders to understand how their single voices can influence the public debate,” says Rothman.

Today, Film Your Issue has grown to include eminent figures on its judging panel, with Distinguished Jurist Walter Cronkite and VIP Jury members such as George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Senator Barack Obama. Some of the world’s largest entertainment companies have also joined forces behind this initiative, including MTV, Walt Disney Studios, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today.

The Film Your Issue ThinkTank will judge the entries and select semi-finalists, and these films will then be opened up to voting by both the public and the VIP Judges. In addition to awarding a paid internship at Walt Disney Studios as the coveted first prize, Film Your Issue will broadcast the top entries in each category on mtvU and showcase them at the Maui Film Festival in June 2006.

Contestants may choose to produce a film on any issue, ranging from poverty and AIDS to animal welfare. Last year’s finalists also included coverage of topics such as the war in Iraq, gay marriage, and education budget cuts.

The Dalai Lama, along with George Clooney and Walter Cronkite, has written an open letter to young Americans urging them to get involved in social issues and to take action.

“It is important that issues like working for peace in the world, preserving the natural environment and protecting human rights do not remain merely the business of older adults,” says the Dalai Lama on the competition’s website. “I urge all of you young people in the US, to whom this opportunity is addressed, to take it up and use it to create short films that will make a difference.”

“There’s not much riding on it. Just the state of the world. The condition of your country,” George Clooney adds in the press release.

In making such films, young Americans will not only be motivated to conduct research on social concerns but also affect and inform those who were previously unaware of the issues. “Film has a great power in reaching audiences, forming opinions, and challenging people,” says Akis P. Konstantakopoulos ’06, a VES concentrator. “This method will definitely be more successful than a bunch of people going outside and holding signs.”

And already-established amateur filmmakers may not be the only ones interested in entering the competition. “The people behind the project are from very different areas—like George Clooney and the Dalai Lama—so this will appeal to a wide demographic, ranging from art students to sociology and anthropology students,” Konstantakopoulos continues.

The current deadline for submission is May 21, 2006. More information and instructions on how to register a film can be found at www.filmyourissue.com.