On June 15-16, EngageMedia teamed up with a group of educators from the Jakarta State University to have a working holiday in Bandung. The cool and fresh air was the holiday, while the working part was doing a video training with a group called Circa HandMade in the village of Cihanjuang, Bandung (West Java).

Circa was founded by long time creative campaigner named Ukke Kosasih. Several years ago, Ukke, a former staff at The Body Shop, came up with an idea to empower marginalised women by offering them sewing machines.

So, after crossing the Jakarta traffic and into the Bandung traffic, the team of trainers arrived in Cihanjuang on Friday, June 14 evening. A nice cool sleep before the two full training days.

The next morning, we were awoken by a loud blast of dangdut music from a nearby mosque. They were having an event. First challenge of the day - how to record scenes without too much of those dancing noises!

The workshop students arrived around 8am. There were 10 of them. All women but one guy (well, two guys including myself). The students were all doll makers. The oldest student was Teh Ita, the older sister of Mbak Ukke, and also the co-founder of Circa. The youngest was Iim, 15 years old. The only guy in the team, Aep, was Circa's doll clothes designer.

For the next two days, the workshop went on to share stories, practice operating cameras, write scripts and eat a lot of Sundanese food. In the end, the workshop finished with six videos with stories around the students' work in Circa. I offered to call the video series 'If the Dolls Could Talk', but they thought it was too scary (read: Chucky in Child's Play) and came out with 'Cerita Di Balik Boneka Circa' (Stories Behind the Circa Dolls).

Before we went home, each trainer was given a doll. I was also given a boy doll. I forgot its name but I called him 'Poa' now. Poa now guards my books.

A day after we left Bandung, all the workshop students shared their experience with other workers who were not able to participate since they had to take care of their children (and husbands, apparently) over the weekend. They said they want to make more and better videos.

For Melbourne-based EngageMedia fans,

EngageMedia, in collaboration with Melbourne International Film Festival, is giving away two double passes to the screening on Free Angela and All Political Prisoners on 9PM Monday, 5 August 2013 at Greater Union Cinemas, 131 Russell Street Melbourne.

To enter email contact@engagemedia.org telling us why you deserve those tickets. The deadline to write to us is Sunday, 4 August.

About Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

This gripping feature documentary chronicles how Angela Davis, a young UCLA philosophy lecturer, became one of the world's legendary black radical activists. Pivoting around Davis' involvement in an infamous courthouse hostage case, director Shola Lynch combines extensive archival footage, period recreation and rare present-day access to Davis herself to produce a gripping and epic telling of the story.

Part crime thriller, part courtroom drama, Free Angela and All Political Prisoners captures the revolutionary spirit of the times, aided by a funky 70s soundtrack.

For more info visit Melbourne International Film Festival website.