Writer & Director Michael Dole brings Voices in Light to life with Northern Rivers Community Gateway and UN Women as a youth-led short film and art wellbeing project created on Bundjalung Country for the UN 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Filmed in the Northern Rivers with local young people, the film follows a group of teenage girls as they gather in nature to paint a large shared mural, using colour, movement and story to explore safety, courage, connection and respect. Their own words lead the narrative.

Interwoven with this process are poetic visual sequences that echo what they share: empty frames swaying beneath an old fig tree, fabric moving from wrestle to soft drape across shoulders, mirrors reflecting forest and sky, small lights cupped at each heart and a campfire glowing in the rain. Every element is shaped by trauma-informed practice and consent-first design, turning nature into both visual poetry and a calming container.

Voices in Light becomes not just a film, but a safe space where young people can speak, create and be held – a gentle, powerful reminder that listening to their stories is the first step toward ending gender-based violence.