From August 24 to 29, 2026, our founder Menefese Kudumu-Clavell spent the full week mentoring at Young Media Sharks in Sigulda, Latvia. The camp is for people ages 14 to 20 interested in documentary, directing, journalism, and digital content, and this year’s program centered on documentary filmmaking and content marketing. The youth NGO Avantis has run it for 10 years, and support from the German Embassy in Riga and other partners keeps it free for participants.

About 300 young people from the Baltics and around the world applied for 50 funded spots. Menefese taught the technical side of filmmaking, with two camera classes: one intermediate, one advanced. Over the week, participants made 12 films.

He was in good company. The mentors included Latvian director and producer Dzintars Dreibergs, known for Blizzard of Souls; Lithuanian documentarian Audrius Stonys, whose Earth of the Blind won the European Film Award for Best Documentary; South African documentary filmmaker Don Edkins, founder of STEPS; Riga-born director Boris Frumin, whose Errors of Youth screened in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; and Nellija Ločmele, founding editor-in-chief of IR magazine, plus journalists and media leaders from TV3, TVNET, and Radio SWH.

TV3 even covered the camp. Programs like this are exactly why our work is called “Stories that Travel.” Graduates can keep going at Young Media House, Avantis’s youth media center.

Want to be part of what’s next? Volunteer or partner with us, explore our programs, or support young filmmakers.