I am working on a documentary film that will serve as an educational tool for teenagers and young adults. This film project targets teenagers’ in-school and out-of-school and aims to reduce the cycle of silence on issues that have to do with the mental health, self-esteem and emotional wellbeing of adolescents.

Most times teenagers experience various challenges; biologically, psychologically, emotionally and socially. They are under pressure to fit into a certain mold designed by society or their peers. A mold that may contradict their beliefs and values, but their state of mind is usually one that is trying to get a grip of the changes going on in their body and emotion. The desire to belong, to be accepted and acknowledged by their peers has forced many young people to make some bad decisions.

Results from our survey amongst 200 teenagers showed that 41% of them had low self-esteem, 58.5% felt they did not meet up with the standards of their friends, 35.3% reported they did not like a part of their body or appearance, while 40% felt their friends looked better than them.

This documentary idea was birthed when I began to reflect on my days as a teenager, the challenges I faced growing up, how I felt about myself and the circumstances that shaped my assessment of self-worth. As I reflected, I noticed that the things other people said about me when I was a child had a huge impact on how I saw myself, and then influenced self-image. Although I was lucky to have pulled through peer pressure successfully, I am concerned about teenagers who might not be able to overcome negative peer pressure after enduring verbal, physical and emotional abuse as children.

So I decided to produce a film that will share stories with teenagers about the experiences of adults and how they pulled through; with the hope that it will encourage them and give them a little strength to overcome low self-esteem and its consequences. This documentary will speak to teenagers from the place of understanding what they are going through and how each interviewee went through those days. It will not be judgmental; instead it will provide an opening for discussion, acting as an icebreaker.

Goal

To produce a documentary film that helps teenagers overcome low self-esteem and negative peer pressure and encourages them to focus on achieving purpose in life.

Objectives

• To assess the level of peer pressure and low self-esteem amongst teenagers in Nigeria
• To produce a documentary that can be used as an educational tool for in and out of school youth by July 2019
• To screen the documentary across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria by November 2019
• To create an atmosphere where teenagers are free to ask questions and get the right counsel during school mobile cinema campaigns across Nigeria