Create

Welcome! Help create the Kahani Movement with film, photos, or writings.

Here’s your chance to be a filmmaker in this movement-- no experience is required and it only takes as little as an hour of your time to tell a story that lasts forever.

Just choose the people you want to interview, set aside one hour of time, and then begin asking the questions you’ve always wanted to ask. There’s no wrong way to do it. Here is how:

1. Choose someone to interview: this can be your parents, a relative, or anyone else important to you.
2. Create a List of Questions: What do you want to learn from the person you’re interviewing? Make a list of 5-10 questions. See suggested interview questions.
3. Listen and Record: Choose a location where the conversation will be quiet and comfortable. Be ready to capture the interview with a recording device (eg, camcorder, camera, phone). See interview tips.
4. Add Pictures and Your Own Personal Touch (optional): This is where you can get creative. Edit your footage using a computer-based editor and blend photos into the video. Watch an editing tutorial.
5. Share: add your video to the Kahani Movement network here.

Add a Film Now!

A picture can tell a great story. Here is how:

1. Collect old photos: Ask your parents, or anyone else important to you, for photos, old letters, or other images from their early days in the United States.
2. Share: Scan the images (see scanning tips) and when you’re ready, add them here.

Add Photos Now!

Help tell untold stories on the Kahani blog. Here is how:

1. Write a short story: Ask your parents, or anyone else important to you, to write a short story about their early days in the United States. Or write your own story. Feel free to add images to make the story more entertaining.
2. Share: post the story as a blog post here.

Here’s an example.

Add Writings Now!

Interview Questions
Here are some questions that have led to good storytelling:

1. Describe the day you left your home country. What was going through your mind?
2. Who helped you get settled when you first arrived?
3. What do you remember most about your first few weeks in the US? How would you describe life in the US to family in your home country?
4. Who had the greatest influence on you? Are you still in touch?
5. How do you want your children to describe the story of their parents to friends?

Interview Tips
StoryCorps, which has been an inspiration for Kahani, put together a good video on how to do interviews:


Editing Tutorials
Here is a tutorial on how to edit a video with Window’s MovieMaker


Here is a tutorial on how to edit in iMovie