FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2008
Contacts:
Maura Hurley, Public Information Officer
California Council for the Humanities
415- 391-1474, ext. 308
mhurley@calhum.org
Jan Pfeiffer, Digital Dove Instructor
Covenant House California
(323) 528 2024
DigiDove@gmail.com
LOS ANGELES — A film by and about homeless teens in Los Angeles has been selected to premiere at the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival. The film, "Hidden Hollywood, At-Risk Youth Explore the Geography of Disconnection," will be shown at the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood at noon on June 29. The public is invited to attend. There is no charge for admission.
The film was created by six teens at Digital Dove, a film workshop connected to Covenant House California, a shelter for homeless and at-risk youth in Los Angeles. Digital Dove was one of eight organizations to receive a $30,000 grant from the California Council for the Humanities to conduct the film project as part of the Council’s statewide How I See It: Youth Digital Filmmakers program.
The Digital Dove teens worked for almost a year on the film, with each directing a separate segment about some aspect of life on the streets. Jasmine Tatum, 19, crafted a vignette about a group of homeless youths’ squatting in an abandoned trailer; 19-year-old Saidel George interviewed transgender youth in Hollywood about their sense of identity and place; and Quierra Smith, also 19, explored the importance of MySpace among homeless youth and its use as a virtual home. The three segments are linked together via an imaginary bus tour, whose stops are the vignettes themselves. Other youths participating in the project functioned as directors of photography, editors and sound recordists.
The experience changed the way the youth see their surroundings and themselves, according to Jan Pfeiffer, Digital Dove’s instructor. “Jasmine, for example, remarked that the project opened her mind to the types of images a place conjures up when you hear its name. Another youth, Dion Riley, said that ‘watching a movie will never be just watching a movie again.’ And Saidel George discovered a newfound confidence, which he summed up by saying, ‘I'm cooler than I thought.’”
Pfeiffer also said that the project has had a ripple effect on their lives. “Jasmine used her vignette as a film sample when she applied to Cal Arts and was accepted to the school, and Quiera Smith, on the strength of her editing work on the project, was accepted into a vocational training program called Hollywood CPR, which prepares young people for production jobs in the entertainment industry.”
In addition to "Hidden Hollywood," two other Youth Digital Filmmakers films will be screened at the festival on June 29. They are "Don't Erase My History" by Ally Action LGBT youth in Concord, a film exploring perspectives on being LGBT in a culture that has largely ignored LGBT history; and “My Reality and My Vision: Stories from Long Beach,” a film created by Khmer Girls in Action about how young Cambodian women see their place now and in the future as compared to the outlook of their parents' generation — many of whom who came to California as refugees of war. The three films will be shown under the title “How I See It.”
"We're very impressed with the films and the dialogue they have inspired in the communities where they are being shown," said Ralph Lewin, executive director of the Council. “The filmmakers took risks in approaching these topics, and I think we should all be listening to what they have to say. We are especially pleased that the L.A. Film Festival has recognized their work.”
In addition to Covenant House California, the following organizations received Youth Digital Filmmakers grants. Screenings are planned throughout the summer.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Oakland: East Bay Asian Youth Center
“I Ain’t Leaving” is a film about the experiences of Cambodian American
youth growing up in the impoverished Oak Park Apartments in the San Antonio District of East Oakland, where residents cope with gangs on one hand and
neighborhood gentrification on the other.
San Francisco: Conscious Youth Media Crew
“A Choice of Weapons” is a narrative film, written, produced and directed by
young San Francisco filmmakers about the impact of redevelopment on a San Francisco neighborhood.
Concord: Ally Action, Inc.
"Don't Erase My History" highlights LGBT history in California, a story largely untold in the classroom. The filmmakers explore their own perspectives on being LGBT in a culture that has largely ignored LGBT history.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Long Beach: Khmer Girls in Action
The project, titled “My Reality and My Vision: Stories from Long Beach,” explores the legacy of the Khmer Rouge war and its effects on the first-generation of Cambodian-American youths.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Fresno: Center for Multicultural Cooperation
The film, "Common Ground, Sowing Seeds of Understanding in the San Joaquin Valley," examines the connections and disconnections among cultural communities of the rural Central Valley through the stories of Hmong, Latino, and African American farmers and farmworkers.
Lodi: Lodi High School
“Finding Our Own Way: Teens in Lodi" is made up of five documentary films about such issues as racism among Lodi High teens, teenage drug abuse, video games, skateboarders and cliques on campus.
Siskiyou County: Siskiyou Arts Council
The film, "Voices Between the Mountains, Coming of Age in the Siskiyous," explores the origins and influences of Siskiyou County's Native American culture and the challenges young people face bridging the gap between a world partially rooted in the past.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES
The California Council for the Humanities has supported and created programs that bring Californians together around their history and culture for more than 30 years. Since 2001 the Council has been engaged in a statewide initiative, California Stories, designed to tell the larger story of California. Youth Digital Filmmakers is part of the California Council for the Humanities' "How I See It" campaign, designed to give California youth an opportunity to explore community and personal issues through filmmaking and present their thoughts, ideas and discoveries to the public. The Youth Digital Filmmakers project is being conducted in partnership with the Digital Storytelling Institute of ZeroDivide.
For information on the California Council for the Humanities, contact (415) 391-1474, or visit http://www.californiastories.org# # #