Transforming Student Consciousness Through Participatory Film: A YPAR Study on Child Marriage Prevention in Indonesia

This study examines how Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and participatory filmmaking can facilitate the negotiation of meaning and the development of critical awareness among student activists engaged in child marriage prevention. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s concept of praxis, the study explores how 80 student activists from the Gender and Child Studies Center (PSGA) negotiated theoretical knowledge concerning gender, sexuality, family relations, and child marriage through the production of two films, Melesat and Tinta yang Mengering (Ink That Dries). The study employed a qualitative YPAR approach involving repeated dialogue, script development, participatory film production, observation, reflection, interviews with three activists, and post-screening reflective responses from approximately 500 eighth- and ninth-grade students at Al Maarif 01 Singosari, Malang. The findings indicate that the filmmaking process created opportunities for activists to reinterpret prevention concepts through their situated understanding of adolescent realities. In particular, discussions concerning family conflict, emotional deprivation, sexual vulnerability, and gendered consequences became incorporated into the film narratives through negotiation between researchers and activists. Interviews with three activists further illustrate emerging changes in their approaches to judgment, communication, gender responsibility, and their roles as advocates. The post-screening reflections of the adolescent audience indicate that the films provided a space for engaging with sensitive issues through narrative reflection rather than exclusively didactic instruction. The study argues that participatory filmmaking can function as a praxis-oriented pedagogical process in which young people contribute to knowledge production, negotiate social meanings, and develop emerging agency. Rather than demonstrating causal behavioral change, the findings highlight the potential of YPAR-based participatory media to connect theoretical knowledge with young people’s situated experiences and to create spaces for critical reflection in child marriage prevention.