Grandmother came about when three students met in class at the University of Sussex and found they all had a passion in promoting social justice for migrants in the current political climate.
They all connected to the idea through their own mothers or grandmothers, and began creating a campaign that many others could relate to. Two years later, they are still great friends and Grandmother is now much more than a school assignment, becoming a passion project for all of them.
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Find out more about Heather, Melina, and Charanpreet.
Heather Dirckze
Heather is an English-born, Canadian filmmaker with a background in International Development. After receiving a BA in International Development and African Studies from York University in Toronto she completed her MA in Media Practice for Development and Social Change at the University of Sussex. She is currently working on her first feature film, Who You Were Yesterday, which follows a group of students on their journey from a Malawian refugee camp to Canadian university campuses. She aims to make films from a development perspective using participatory methods. Visit her website for more info.
Melina campos ortiz
Melina is an experienced development practitioner from Costa Rica. She has worked supporting environmental and human rights civil society organizations in different countries in Latin America since 2012. Her favorite organizations are the ones that use creative tools to challenge the status quo in repressive environments. Melina holds an MA in Media Practice for Development and Social Change from the University of Sussex and a BSc in Economics from the University of Costa Rica. Some day she will become an academic engaged with creative practices to explore the meanings of development in the Global South. Grandmother is her first film.
Charanpreet Khaira
Charanpreet is a journalist with a passion for giving a platform to unrepresented communities. She currently works for ITV News in Bristol and has been shortlisted for an O2 North West Young Journalist Award and an Asian Media Young Journalist Award. Since Grandmother she has worked as a One World Media Scholar to produce Lola/Yaya, which was selected for Bologna's Human Rights Nights festival. She hopes to use journalism as a tool to empower marginalised people and highlight social inequality.
