The Documentary Circles: Rural Youth Exchange project aims to promote active participation, creativity and inclusion among young Europeans through the innovative tool of participatory documentary filmmaking. We want to offer 24 young people from different backgrounds (rural, urban, disadvantaged) a safe space where they can express themselves and tell their stories, developing new skills and forging intercultural bonds. The specific objectives are: (1) to enhance the participants' expressive and digital skills – learning to conceive, shoot and edit short documentary films about their own stories; (2) to strengthen transversal skills such as teamwork, empathic listening, self-confidence and trust in others, through a process of deep sharing in a circle; (3) to stimulate greater social and cultural awareness by bringing out issues that are important to young people (identity, community, inclusion, sustainability) and reflecting on them together; (4) to create a small, cohesive international community of young people who, at the end of the project, feel like active European citizens, eager to continue collaborating and spreading the values of solidarity, respect and participation in their own communities. In short, with Documentary Circles we want to demonstrate the power of shared stories in transforming young people from passive spectators into conscious protagonists – more competent, more united, more open to Europe and to the future.