Organized by the International Youth Media Summit (IYMS)
Peace in Focus
We live in a time when wars trend on social media. When misinformation moves faster than truth. When young people inherit conflicts they didn’t start, and futures they didn’t choose.
But here’s what they also inherit: cameras, voices, platforms, and imagination.
Join us in Paris for the 21st International Youth Media Summit and reach across borders, building an indestructible network of youth whose voices will reshape the future – frame by frame, story by story, conversation by conversation.
Just as a filmmaker shapes raw footage into meaning, we can shape chaos into clarity. Conflict into connection. Silence into song.
Peace isn’t passive – it’s a call to action: to see differently, to listen fully, to create bravely.
From Film to Action: IYMS Transforms You and the World
The IYMS Summit is the only annual event that offers the dynamic experience of hands-on film production to young people from all over the world. They collaborate on the creation of media that ignites change and impacts the future.
Over the past 20 years, over 1,700 change-makers from 81 countries have participated in the Annual IYMS Summit and created 140 short films, with one common goal: to tackle global issues and take action against them by implementing grassroots initiatives in every corner of the world.
For two weeks, the delegates work in seven film production teams. Each team focuses on a different urgent social problem:
Discrimination
Environment
Health
Poverty
Violence
Women’s Rights
Youth Empowerment
Our end products? Seven short films that deliver powerful messages to raise awareness of these issues. After the Summit, our delegates set about the work of expanding their network of young storytellers and change-makers around the world.
After working with young creators from six continents for two weeks in the City of Light, you may echo what others have said: “This Summit changed my life.”
Paris Is Waiting. History Is Watching. What Will You Create?
Learn the language of peace—not platitudes, but practical tools:
Conflict-sensitive storytelling. Ethical journalism in crisis zones. How to build narratives that don’t flatten complexity into “good guys vs. bad guys.”
Create with purpose—short films that don’t just document problems but imagine solutions. Stories that make enemies human again. Films that remind us what we’re fighting for, not just what we’re against.
Build a network that outlasts the Summit—because the real work isn’t what you make in Paris. It’s what you make when you return home, armed with new skills, unlikely friendships, and the knowledge that you’re not alone in believing art can change things.
The question isn’t whether you can make media. It’s whether you’ll use it to heal or to harm. To clarify or to confuse. To bridge or to burn.
Because if wars begin in the minds of humans, then so must their ending.
And maybe—just maybe—that ending begins in Paris, in the summer of 2026, with you.
“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”
— UNESCO Constitution, 1945
Join us. Make films. Make friends. Make peace.
Delegate Categories
Youth Delegates: We welcome delegates 18+ years of age* in one of two categories.
Experienced Advisors: We welcome filmmakers, diplomats and educators to apply to be an Advisor.
* Delegates under the age of 18 may be accepted in certain situations. Write evelyn@iyms.org for more information.
Filmmakers
Diplomats
Advisors
Host Organization – Teen International Media Exchange
The Teen International Media Exchange (TIME) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization created after the events of 9/11 to help young people from different countries bridge cultural, ethnic and religious divides by collaborating on film projects that reflected concerns about their lives. Founded in the fall of 2001, TIME organized two in-country exchanges with So. Korea and Belize, and dozens of online projects with Scotland, Afghanistan, Armenia, Israel and Palestine. TIME founded the International Youth Media Summit in 2006, hosted the first and ninth Summits in Southern California, and co-hosted the 18th Summit in Wisconsin. It is the parent organization for IYMS and IYMS Films.
Our Paris Home
The Fondation des États-Unis at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris
Cost of Attending
Delegates will be charged 1000 USD for the two-week Summit (arrival on July 17, departure on July 30). This payment will cover:
- Transportation to and from the airport.
- Housing.
- Three meals a day, with special diets available.
- In-town excursions.
- All special events: The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and Talent Show, dance parties and Seven Issue Film Festival.
These are ‘hard costs’ and we cannot waive this fee. Delegates will be provided with official invitation documents to use for their fundraising efforts, as well as fundraising suggestions. Beyond those things, IYMS cannot take any responsibility for helping delegates to raise their funds.
Delegates will need to pay their own round-trip flights to Paris, France from their home cities, and any passport or visa costs.
Please note: Delegates who have been chosen for the Summit will need to pay a $100 deposit to hold their spot no later than 14 days after they receive their selection letter.
Visas
To determine if you need a visa to France, check out this website. (You will be requesting a “short stay” visa.)
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/web/france-visas/visa-wizard
If you need a visa, you can get information here about the application process:
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/visa-application-guidelines
For delegates who are accepted, we will be providing a letter for your visa appointment, stating you have been invited to the Summit.
Before You Apply
We are so excited you want to join us at the 21th Summit! To help guarantee your success, we suggest following these steps before beginning your application:
Please read this webpage carefully
- Look at the 7 issues; decide which 3 you are most passionate about
- Decide what category of delegate is right for you
- Research your travel costs and your visa needs
Get these attachments and links ready:
A 1-2 minute video (selfies preferred) telling us why you want to attend IYMS and what you expect to gain from this experience. Upload to YouTube (as an Unlisted or Public video) and have a link ready.
One sample (short story, video reel, script, photography portfolio, article, etc.) of what you believe to be the best example of your creative work.
Your CV, a letter of recommendation or anything else that will impress us.
Applications close January 15, 2026.
