FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2008
Contacts:
Debra Koffler
Director, Conscious Youth Media
415-250-5552
cymc@2000@yahoo.com
Maura Hurley, Public Information Officer
California Council for the Humanities
415-391-1474, ext. 308
mhurley@calhum.org
SAN FRANCISCO — For the better part of a year, a crew of five young filmmakers have spent afternoons and weekends making a film about redevelopment in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood and its impact on their lives. The 75-minute film, “A Choice of Weapons,” was researched, written, cast and filmed entirely by the young filmmakers. It will premiere on Wednesday, October 29 at a screening and reception at San Francisco's Brava Theater, 2781 24th Street from 6:30-930 p.m.
The filmmaking project is part of How I See It: Youth Digital Filmmakers, a statewide project of the California Council for the Humanities that includes seven other film projects.
"The story came out of what was happening in the community," said Debra Koffler, executive director of Conscious Youth Media Crew, the project’s sponsor. "We didn't have to make it up because it was taking place right in front of us. The film is based on kids' lives." Koffler’s organization received $30,000 from the Council to conduct the yearlong film project in October 2007.
“The film addresses the realities these kids face growing up in a neglected San Francisco neighborhood, where gentrification is displacing longtime residents,” Koffler explained. The story is told from the point of view of 19-year-old D’Angelo, played by Charles Williams, who must cope with turf wars, his job cleaning up a former shipyard polluted with toxic waste and his family's eviction from public housing.
"The project resonated with what was happening around them, and the youths realized that their own personal lives were political and that they themselves were affected by changes in the community,” Koffler added. “The story became incredibly compelling."
“Our neighborhood is changing so fast,” said Devin Melvin, 19, one of the young filmmakers. “It’s happening in front of our eyes. Making this film helped me see how important it is to learn about your community’s history is before it’s gone.”
Local filmmaker Samm Styles worked with CYMC as a mentor and artist-in- residence in the production of the film.
Nancy Mirabal, associate professor in the Raza Studies Department at San Francisco State University, served as an advisor to the project. Mirabal helped the participants see the importance of considering race and gender when conducting community research and gathering information for the story and its characters.
Conscious Youth Media Crew teaches filmmaking to high-risk youth and promotes storytelling from the young participants’ own perspectives.
"A Choice of Weapons," will be entered into film festivals, and shown in universities, schools and community organizations to promote dialogue and social change around issues like redevelopment and environmental justice, Koffler said.
“The idea behind Youth Digital Filmmakers is to give youth a voice in what happens in their communities and skills they can use in the future,” said Ralph Lewin, executive director of the California Council for the Humanities. “The humanities scholars give the teens a broader perspective on their film topics and help them see how issues they’re dealing with today are similar to those of other places and times.”
The Youth Digital Filmmakers project is being conducted in partnership with
the Digital Storytelling Institute of ZeroDivide. http://www.zerodivide.org/
In addition to the project "A Choice of Weapons," the following projects received Youth Digital Filmmakers grants:
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Fresno: Center for Multiculltural Cooperation
“Common Ground: Sowing the seeds of Understanding in the San Joaquin Valley” tells the story of three San Joaquin Valley families who came to California to work the land and create new lives.
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.
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 first-generation Cambodian-American youths.
Los Angeles: Covenant House California
"Hidden Hollywood, At-Risk Youth Explore the Geography of Disconnection" examines how homeless youths are finding a place for themselves in the world.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
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 their lives in the 21st century and 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, see www.californiastories.org.
About Conscious Youth Media Crew
Conscious Youth Media Crew is a San Francisco-based youth-driven, digital media production studio, providing technology and training to enable inner city youth to create quality media that represents their experiences and stimulates meaningful community dialogue. The organization produces screens, and broadcasts about 25 youth-created films each year. http://www.consciousyouthmediacrew.org.
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