INSPIRED by science

DESPITE THE APPLAUSE that rang out as the final credits rolled on the American documentary “Big Dream”, the audience, almost all of them students, remained quiet and uncommunicative as the screening gave way to a question-and-answer session with director Kelly Cox and it was up to Cox to get the ball rolling by asking her young spectators who they had liked best in the film. That broke the ice and soon the questions were flowing, touching on everything from the filmmaking process, the idea for the documentary and what was going on in the lives of the seven youngsters portrayed in the film.
“Big Dream”, which was screened as part of the 13th World Film Festival of Bangkok, follows seven young women in different parts of the world who have big dreams and are trying to overcome the challenges they face as well as working hard to make their dreams come true.
The three Americans, two Omanis, a Kenyan and a Costa Rican all have an aptitude for computer sciences. Their dreams are not the same and neither are their struggles but they share a determination to realise their goals, even if that does mean following a different path from the one they had planned.
Last weekend’s showing marked the first time the film had travelled outside the US and the director later told XP that some the girls in the film still haven’t seen it.
Cox was delighted that her Bangkok audience was made up of young people, noting that at most of the US screenings, the viewers had been largely adult.
 “The few times we showed the film in the US, the audience was made up mainly of executives. The film obviously won’t appeal to them in the same way as it does to young people and that’s why I’m so pleased with the response from the Thai students.
 “One of the girls told me she thought she had big dreams but after watching the film felt that her dream was very small compared to the young people in the film. She said she would think about her dream more carefully,” Cox says.
 Since its screening at the festival last weekend – a repeat screening is being held today – the documentary has been touring the provinces. Thanks to the support of the US Embassy, it’s being shown at schools in Krabi, Trang, Lampang, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai and Cox is once again leading discussions with the students.
The director says the idea for the project came up while she was working for Disney. “I kept hearing about the lack of women in the fields of science, technology and engineering. I looked further into this shortage and discovered that there were many girls who dreamt of working in these areas but were dropping out because of the lack of encouragement and support in middle school.
“That gave me the idea of portraying girls who are sticking to their dreams in the hope that their stories would inspire and encourage girls not to give up.”
Cox pitched her project proposal to different companies before finally striking gold with computer giant Microsoft. She chose the girls from the many candidates who submitted letters and shared their ideas, considering applicants from Thailand, India, Singapore and Japan before selecting her final cast.
All talented in science and engineering, the girls have amazing stories to tell. One of them, a self-taught, homeless youngster determined to be the first in her family to graduate from college, has created a useful application to help drunk women not to drive. The two girls from Oman demonstrated the great opportunities that exist for girls in Muslim countries if they are given the chance to use their talents in computer science.
Cox and her team spent five days with each of the girls. She particularly bonded with the Kenyan girl, she says, but had more difficulties with the Omani girls. “Perhaps it was the cultural differences. It definitely took me more time to understand their lives,” she says.
“I didn’t want the film coming out as ‘talking heads’,” she says. “It was important that each girl’s story offered the audience an intimate glimpse of their lives and jobs. It’s the unexpected things that make the story more exciting.

BE INSPIRED
“Big Dream” screens at 3.30 today at the SF World Cinema as part of the 13th World Film Festival of Bangkok.
Find out more about the movie and its seven characters at www.BigDreamMovement.com.