In early 2025, we, Zianne and Jasper, still had a simple idea: learning about films and their impact on people. The seed was planted in 2024, when our class went off the grid for three days. Without the distraction of phones and screens, we started talking about core values: what do we truly value in life? It was both challenging and connecting. We saw each other differently, better. And then we thought: how wonderful would it be if we could share this with other young people?
In February and March 2025, we continued our research. We delved into reports on polarization and radicalization and spoke with professionals like Treske Hére (Dreamfabriek), Hedwig Boersma (NHL), a citizenship teacher, and several researchers from the Atelier Sociaal Domein. We also listened to young people themselves during the Tienskipdagen (Tienskip Days). From all these conversations and research, a picture emerged of a generation that is searching—and often vulnerable.
We encountered young people struggling with their identity, loyalty, and friendship, with exclusion or misunderstanding. Young people seeking support, sometimes through extreme responses, sometimes in silence behind their screens. We discovered six profiles, from identity seekers to justice seekers, from thrill seekers to young people experiencing trauma. All different, but with one shared need: to be seen, heard, and acknowledged.
From this, our mission grew:
How can we get young people who lack motivation to take action, so they can explore their beliefs and feel more confident in life?
Our answer: film and conversation. Film because young people understand visual language, because stories evoke emotions and evoke recognition. Conversation because change only happens when you put what you feel and think into words.
In the summer of 2025, we tested our first event. We learned, tried, failed (a test evening coincided with the first summer day 😉), and kept going. In August, the cameras were rolling, and our first real project was born, with a cast and crew of young people themselves. The feedback from the cast and crew confirmed: this resonates, this works.
Now, in September and October, we're building further. With students from NHL Stenden, we're setting up a media team, planning our first events (at Moody's, October 3rd), and working towards the premiere on October 31st, 2025, where we'll present the project together.
Virtue is young, but growing. Behind the scenes, our plans hang like colorful sticky notes, but in front of the screen, it's about something bigger:
And we can't do it alone. That's why we're looking for partners who want to help us advance this movement. Not with grand words, but with action: a space, a contribution, a network, support for the premiere or the next film.
Virtue was born out of curiosity, grown through research, and driven by a deep conviction: that every young person deserves to discover their own values.
Together, we can provide that opportunity.