Our City, My Story 2008

Please join us for a special NYC high-school student attended presentation of Our City, My Story, Tribeca Film Institute’s annual celebration of the vision, excellence and diversity of New York City youth-made media—giving student work an audience during the Tribeca Film Festival.

Featuring work from Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Downtown Community Television, Ghetto Film School, MOMA’s “In the Making” program, Educational Video Center, The Young Woman’s Leadership School of East Harlem, the Summer Arts Institute and independent youth filmmakers—Our City, My Story aims to highlight the tremendous work that our city’s young filmmakers are producing.

Large groups are welcome.

Please RSVP to: apeoples@tribecafilminstitute.org

Our City, My Story 2008 Program

Introduction: Cityscapes

By the 2008 Tribeca Film Fellows
Edited by: Kris Kaczor
Music by: Detektivbyran, Fabian Kallerdahl Galore and Dujeous*
This spring, the Tribeca Film Fellows—20 dynamic young filmmakers who are invited to the Tribeca Film Festival for a backstage look at the Festival and the film industry at large—descended on all five boroughs to capture the essence of the city they live in. Presented as an introduction to Our City, My Story, Cityscapes introduces the 11 short films and pays homage to the young filmmakers featured in the program and the city that all of them live in and love.

Reality

The Women’s Young Leadership School of East Harlem
By Trulanda Singleton
Written and Performed by: Juget Benjamin
Camera and Crew: Ashley Badillo, Destiny Caple, Julianne Delgado, Veronica Rosa, Brittany Harris, Stephanie Montalvo, Melissa Santaella, Precious Smith
Juget Benjamin performs a moving spoken word piece about the New York City urban youth experience.

Playing With the Other Tigers

Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
By Zachary Lennon-Simon
Two friends, one Muslim and the other one half-Jewish, explore how they stayed friends after 9/11—because they never believed they were different.

Operation: Wilt

Summer Arts Institute
By Chenelle Bryant-Harris, Kenneth Crutchfield, Gabe Gomez, Stephen Scott Scarpulla
Richard, an environmentally apathetic young man encounters a miraculously talking plant that informs him that the fate of the world rests in his generation’s hands.

Taste of June

Ghetto Film School
By Amirah Hakim-EL
A young girl falls in love with the boy of her dreams, much to her overprotective mother’s chagrin.

Crazy Little Dancer

Downtown Community Television Center
By Lilibeth Chauca
Additional Camera: Iemi Hernandez-Kim, Tiffany Kennedy, Saida Morocho
As a form of self-expression and a means to unite with her family and friends, Lilibeth learns how to dance.

Iemanja

Museum of Modern Art
By Anri Vartanov
An idyllic beach is overrun by garbage, a sign of encroaching urbanization. This disregard for nature angers IEMANJA, the goddess of the sea, and a representative of the past. Tension builds up and finally releases, leaving viewers with the question: can humanity coexist with nature?

Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can)

Downtown Community Television
By Rosalino Ramos, Tahina Roanda Vatel, Iemi Hernandez-Kim
Sí Se Puede asks activists, teenagers, journalists, and immigrants what should be done to stop the illegal immigration epidemic in America. Through protests and in depth interview, the immigration movement is told through the eyes of all Americans.

Losing Ground

Educational Video Center
By Devaughn Barden. Theresa Dilworth. Eva Duarte, Gilbert Feliciano, Veridiana Montas, Ryson Thomas
Every night, thousands of young people under the age of 18 are forced to sleep in shelters, at friends’ and relatives’ homes, or on the street. This piece highlights two young people facing this crisis, shedding light on their everyday challenges and the sources of strength and inspiration that keep them going as they work to build a better life for themselves.

200MGs of Normality

Ghetto Film School
By Elias Luna
A young woman struggles to hold onto her sanity as she seeks the medication that will cure her schizophrenia.

Holding Up

Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
Filmmaker: Wyatt Maker
Often it is unbearable and seemingly impossible for a family to move on and stay together when a loved one is lost. The blanket of emptiness and pain that falls during a tragic time like this can be great indeed, but life must go on. Holding Up is about dealing with the loss of a family member. 

Transit

Crunchie Films
Filmmakers: Charlie Shelton, Gabriel Gomez
An experimental film depicting a teenager’s train of thought when he falls asleep on a Coney Island bound F train.