The Paley Center for Media Presents
11th Annual Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival
A Unique Film Festival Created and Curated by Teens for Teens April 10th and April 11th, 2008
The Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival – which marks its 11th anniversary this year – will take place on April 10th and April 11th at The Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio, in Manhattan. The festival showcases fiction, documentary, and experimental videos created by young filmmakers that explore issues effecting young people today. All the work screened in the festival is created by teens; entries are reviewed and selected by a volunteer committee of young people who critique and celebrate the work of their peers.
“Urban Visionaries began as a series of screenings at small neighborhood organizations. Eleven years later it’s a full-fledged youth media festival,” said Hillary Kolos, Festival Coordinator. “This year we expect to reach some 1500 young people in New York City and beyond.”
Highlights of this year’s festival include: screenings of fiction, documentary and experimental videos by young producers; a popular “video slam,” (an open mic for young filmmakers); youth performances of poetry, music and dance; panel discussions; and a youth-led Media EXPO at Manhattan Neighborhood Network where young people from around the city attend workshops on media-making and analysis.
Urban Visionaries is a collaboration between youth media makers and educators from New York City’s premiere media literacy organizations, including Downtown Community TV (DCTV), The Educational Video Center, Ghetto Film School, Global Action Project, Listen Up!, Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s Youth Channel, Reel Works, T.R.U.C.E., and The Paley Center for Media.