Smokescreen Project

Smoking rates are skyrocketing among pre-teen and teenage girls.

In fact, 2003 was the first year the smoking rates were higher among girls than they were boys!!

What better way to get down to the nuts and bolts of why girls smoke and how they can stop then to arm a bunch of teenage girls with cameras and let them make anti-smoking ads of their own?

That's precisely what happened at a little film school on Galiano Island, British Columbia in the fall of 2003.

From October 14th - 23rd, 2003 the Access to Media Education Society (AMES) treated 24 young women between the ages of 14 and 19 to ten FULLY SUBSIDIZED action-packed-days of hands-on movie-making at the Gulf Islands Film & Television School (GIFTS).

The girls were a mix of smokers, non-smokers and 'quitters' who came from a variety of backgrounds and 'home towns' from all over British Columbia and the Yukon.

Every girl got a chance to work with a team of accomplished filmmakers and other creative youth to create a series of ads to help educate the TV viewing public about what makes young girls want to smoke and why they should resist!

The result?

A total of 19 ads were made that are helping girls across the country to KICK BUTT!!!