Tribeca Film Institute Expands Education Initiatives to Los Angeles as Reach Hits 15,000 Students

Pilot After-School Film Program in Los Angeles to Introduce Digital Storytelling to Immigrant Students Through Film and Video Gaming

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Youth Screening Series Launches new partnership with ITVS and Public Media Focused on African American Women’s Leadership, and brings Tribeca Film Festival Films to the Other Boroughs

[New York, NY – February 6, 2012] The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) today announced the expansion of its Tribeca Teaches program to Los Angeles, with an after-school digital storytelling program at Lennox Middle School. The program, presented in partnership with California non-profit Southern California Crossroads, is TFI’s first pilot outside of New York City and will focus on the medium of video games to guide a bilingual, storytelling curriculum to students. Tribeca Teaches Los Angeles joins TFI’s established youth programs in New York, which are expected to serve more than 15,000 students in 2012.

Beginning this month, Tribeca Teaches Los Angeles will partner experienced filmmakers with teachers, community activists and parents to help students script their own stories using the familiar narrative of video games. This 18-week program will take place in Lennox, a Los Angeles County neighborhood with a population that is 93% low-income Latino immigrants. At the same time, in its New York City base, Tribeca Teaches will continue working in schools in all five of the city’s boroughs. One site includes an innovative cross-cultural classroom platform, where students at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School will explore the importance of community and identity through a partnership with a Brazilian school. Students in Brazil will read Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin, and conduct critical viewings of Menace II Society, while students in the Bronx will watch City of God and read Chico Mendes’ Fight for the Forest. The program will culminate in a student-driven film project.

“Over the past six years we have built a strong foundation for young storytellers in New York City, helping students to see themselves as storytellers, and providing teachers with the tools they need to use film and media in the classroom,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute. “We are proud to bring our expertise across the country and empower a new community of students to write their own narratives.”

TFI also announced a new season of the Tribeca Youth Screening Series which will expand its programming at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival to bring a select number of festival films to students in all five boroughs of New York City. The Youth Screening Series offers free screenings to thousands of New York City public school students throughout the year with the aim of developing critical viewing skills. A new partnership with the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the Women and Girls Lead campaign will offer free screenings of a series of ITVS films that examine and celebrate African American women’s leadership, empowerment and social justice. The program began in January with the screening of Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock, and will continue this month and in March with The Interrupters, and The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. A special partnership with The Young Women’s Leadership Schools will engage hundreds of high school girls to think about leadership and activism in their own communities. Tribeca Teaching Artists are deployed to classrooms throughout the city to conduct workshops to accompany the screenings.

“Young women of color still face daunting challenges in finding television broadcast programs that respect their humanity and contribute to their positive self-esteem. Public media’s Women and Girls Lead campaign is a unique opportunity to directly inspire young women of color with truthful present day stories about their communities and the women leaders at the forefront of social change,” said Vee Bravo, Director of Education for the Tribeca Film Institute. “This year we are thrilled to extend that experience to all New York City boroughs and beyond.” The Tribeca Youth Screening Series is presented by AT&T.

In addition, TFI will continue several ongoing educational initiatives:

Professional Development for New York City teachers
Presented in partnership with the New York City Department of Education and made possible through the support of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the TFI Professional Development initiative provides interactive professional development workshops on the use of Final Cut Pro, sound design, graphics and color correction to elementary, middle, and high school educators. The program helps empower nearly 10,000 students to learn the craft of digital storytelling.

The Tribeca Film Fellows
Each year the Tribeca Film Institute selects 20 of New York’s most promising young filmmakers to participate in a yearlong leadership program held in conjunction with the Tribeca Film Festival. Submissions for the Film Fellows program are now open. As Film Fellows they work collectively on a short film project advancing a social justice issue that are then presented before established filmmakers and community leaders at the Festival. Film Fellows are eligible to compete for a scholarship fund based on an individual film idea they pitch and their proven and/or prospective commitment to the advancement of a social cause. Film Fellows also gain access to film industry professionals who provide them with in-depth knowledge on production, emerging technology, distribution, and the craft of raising funds for completion of their films. Film Fellows is made possible through a generous grant from Time Warner Inc.

Tribeca Film Institute’s education initiatives are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. These programs are presented, in part, by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council. Additional support provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Bloomingdales Fund of the Macy’s Foundation, GWFF, Howard Rubin and Patty Jaramillo, Exploring the Arts, Honorable Margaret Chin of the Council of the City of New York and Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer.

About the Tribeca Film Institute:
The Tribeca Film Institute is a 501(c)3 year round nonprofit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI empowers filmmakers through grants and professional development, and is a resource and advocate for individual artists in the field. The Institute’s educational programming leverages an extensive film community network to help underserved New York City students learn filmmaking and gain the media skills necessary to be productive citizens and creative individuals in the 21st century. Administering a dozen major programs annually, TFI is a critical contributor to the fabric of filmmaking and aids in protecting the livelihood of filmmakers and media artists.For more information and a list of all TFI programs visit http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org/

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