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The Gen-Y Studio at the Sundance Film Festival

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Posted on February 12, 2002

Introduction

The Sundance Institute presented the Gen-Y Studio Jan. 12-17, 2002, in Park City, Utah. Held in conjunction with the Sundance Film Festival, the Studio is designed to give young filmmakers an opportunity to explore the art of filmmaking, become acquainted with new film technology, and dialogue with both their peers and industry professionals.

Image courtesy of The Global Action Project

The Studio is a venue uniquely situated to give young filmmakers the kind of access they can't get anywhere else. The week's activities were highlighted by Sundance Film Festival screenings followed by Q and A sessions with the "adult" filmmakers, and included other events such as panel discussions, and peer screenings. The Gen-Y Studio is an initiative of the Sundance Institute's Gen-Y Program, which also runs the Gen-Y Summer Film Camp. Gen-Y refers to Generation-Youth.

Sixty-one young filmmakers attended, representing four high schools and sixteen media organizations in the US and Canada. The participants hailed from 911 Media Arts (Seattle, WA), Academy of Film and Theater Arts/Thomas Jefferson High School (Los Angeles, CA), Big Soul Productions, Black Media Foundation, Inc. (Queens Village, NY), The Children's Coalition, Inc. (West Palm Beach, FL), Cinema-North East School of the Arts (San Antonio, TX), Downtown Community Television Center (New York, NY), Global Action Project (New York, NY), Independent Student Media (Sandy, UT), In Progress (St. Paul, MN), Just Think Foundation (San Francisco, CA), New Orleans Video Access Center (New Orleans, LA), Ogden High School Films (Ogden, UT), Snow Eagle Institute (Parshall, ND), Spy Hop Productions (Salt Lake City, UT), and West High School (Salt Lake City, UT). The Global Action Project (New York, NY) also participated, bringing youth from Kosovo and Sierra Leone into the mix, which helped to create a truly diverse atmosphere.

The Gen-Y Studio's mission is to encourage young filmmakers to realize-- and embrace--the power of film as a medium for self-expression and social change. To that end, this year's activities were designed to help empower participants to tell their own stories. Concurrent with that focus, the Gen-Y Studio expanded this year to occupy its own venue. This move provided the young filmmakers with a space of their own. The Gen-Y Studio shared space the past two years with the "House of Docs"; this year the Studio occupied the cozy Elks lodge on Main Street--in the heart of the bustling Sundance Film Festival.

The Gen-Y filmmakers traveled as a group to three selected Festival screenings, then returned to the Studio for Gen-Y-only Q and A sessions with the directors. Films chosen for viewing and discussion this year were Amandla! A revolution in four part harmony (D: Lee Hirsh), Face (D: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan) and Miss America (D: Lisa Ades).

Panels comprised of industry professionals offered insight into various film and video concerns for the Gen-Y participants. "Voices of Youth" explored the topic of human rights and freedom of expression, while addressing how youth can use film/media as a tool for conflict resolution. Video pieces dealing with the September 11th tragedy sparked the forum. They were produced by DCTV, Ogden High School, and Spy Hop Productions.

The panel entitled "The Road to Exhibition" brought media professionals to the Studio to discuss exhibition and distribution strategies for youth media. (Read some distribution tips from this panel below). Three Gen-Y filmmakers pitched their projects to the pros: Melissa Maehara, Josiah Neundorf, and Anna Mahony. (Read on to learn about these filmmakers and their awesome projects).

Every evening brought pizza and movies to the Studio, creating a camp-like Lodge atmosphere that buzzed with new friendships by weeks end. The movies were all produced by the Gen-Y participants. The structure of the screenings mirrored the Sundance filmmaker screenings, with Q and A sessions following viewings. This time, though, the young filmmakers took center stage. A crucial point is that these youth screenings are not Sundance Film Festival films: They are simply works that students chose to share with their peers.

Roughly fifty works were screened and discussed, covering a wide-range of genres: social issue documentaries, fiction (comedy and drama), even diary pieces. Andrew Atwell from Madison, Wisconsin, was impressed by the work of his peers: "It was inspiring to see how much passion these kids have for making films. The docs we saw tackled a bunch of heavy issues. I have never seen kids tackling so many deep issues as I've seen here."

Some of the "heavy issues" addressed were homelessness -- (Chat on the Street, director: Zolton Von Bozzay), interracial friendship (Why Can't we be Friends, director: Jim Cummings), and the media's influence on body image (REEL GRRLS, director: Melissa Maehara).

The Gen-Y Studio certainly provides an aspiring filmmaker the type of top-tiered film festival access not supplied anywhere else. The venue grants a unique opportunity to mingle with and learn from the pros, and investigate the art and power of film. But perhaps the Studio's greatest gift occurs on the personal level. Stories are shared, and contact is made between kids living varied economic and cultural realities. Greater confidence and shifted perspectives -- in addition to new friendships and networks -- result.

The young filmmakers that showed up to the 2002 Gen-Y Studio were impressive. John Rikkers, producer of HBO Family's 30x30: Kid Flicks and a panel participant, agrees. He points out it won't be long until we see a film created by a youth filmmaker in the main competition at a major festival. "Probably docs first, because most of them are working in video," envisions Rikkers. "There's no doubt that the 14-20 year-old crew are quickly evolving to a point where their material, their approach to filmmaking, and their ability to navigate the distribution and festival circuit is all there. Within five years, we'll see a genuine young person's perspective, rather than an adult's take on what it's like to be fifteen."

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