A Grade 7 North Vancouver filmmaker will be visiting five Mission schools on Feb. 29, Pink Shirt Day, to spread the message of anti-bullying to his peers.
Mackenzie Harmon, who posts film shorts on his website 316mackie.ca, began making videos two years ago with his iPod and continues to shoot and edit on his iPhone to spread the word of various causes.
Harmon's videos have already landed him a couple of appearances on Citytv’s Breakfast television, newspaper articles, a spotlight feature on the Vancouver Canucks website, and a YouTube following.
Last year he was asked by his teacher to make a short video for Pink Shirt Day, an annual anti-bullying initiative that takes place across British Columbia. He shot and edited the four-minute film in two days and his video was projected in his school's gymnasium.
The film stars Harmon experiencing random acts of bullying and the emotional toll it takes on kids.
"I did this so people could see what it looks like and how it feels to be bullied," he writes on his website.
He's gone on to make other videos and posted them on YouTube, including one about youth homelessness and another about dealing with the disappointing aftermath of the Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup riot.
“The point of my videos is not about me or how many views I can get but to bring awareness to these causes because we all have family and we are all affected in one way or another.”
School schedule:
8:45 a.m. at Edwin S. Richards elementary 10 a.m. at Hatzic elementary 11 a.m. at Dewdney elementary 12:30 p.m. at Albert McMahon 1:30 p.m. at Silverdale elementary