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RAFAEL GELL Born & Raised: Dominican Republic and Harlem First EVC Project: Gender Power: Street Harassment in NYC (2014) Current Occupation: Studio Operator, CNN Education: AS, Theater Production, Borough of Manhattan Community College; BS, New York University, Media Culture and Communication Films: Gender Power: Street Harassment in NYC (2014) Rafael's Story Born in Manhattan, Rafael moved to the Dominican Republic when he was three to live with his grandmother. He returned to New York City when he was six, landing in the Bronx. Rafael found EVC at a critical time in his life: he had already been in and out of several high schools, and was worried he would never graduate. He woke up one day with the realization that if he didn’t graduate from high school he wouldn’t succeed in life. Attending City-As-School, he was grateful that he could learn about almost anything that he was passionate about by doing internships around the city. He was enthusiastic about film, theater, and communications, so he applied to EVC, and EVC accepted him as an intern in Youth Doc Workshop (YDW). He became a leader of his YDW production team. He went on to co-produce Gender Power: Street Harassment in New York City, which shed light on the causes of street harassment and solutions for creating more equitable gender power. Working on the film helped him not only gain artistic and technical filmmaking skills, but he also learned how to put them to use to make a film with a sociological perspective. As he worked hard editing the film and listening to the interviews, he came to realize how desensitized he had become to the ways young men objectified girls and women. The film premiered at the HBO Theater in Manhattan and won awards at three festivals. Inspired by his time at EVC, Rafael graduated high school in 2013 and was accepted to the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). There he majored in theater and joined the film club, and eventually he was elected vice president of the club. He directed a short film that screened at Tribeca. He graduated from BMCC with an associates degree in Theater Production. The confidence he gained there led him to New York University, where he graduated with honors in spring 2019 with a bachelors of science in Media Arts Studies. After graduation and faced with the daunting task of finding work in the New York City media industry, Rafael again received critical mentoring, networking, and career-skills assistance from EVC. In addition to connecting Rafael to media professionals and his first freelance job opportunities, EVC offered Rafael an internship, enabling him to develop a film reel that both provided him work experience as well as his first work samples for a growing media portfolio. And EVC sponsored an internship for Rafael at Bloomberg News under the mentorship of Technical Director Alex Soto, another EVC alum. Rafael reflected, “EVC helped me get an internship at Bloomberg News, which literally changed my life because it led to a full-time contracted position. If I didn’t have the connection through EVC, I never would have had an ‘in’ to a job that I love and that has launched my career in media.” Rafael stays connected to EVC and periodically returns to participate in EVC screenings as an alumni guest speaker. He has full-time work as a studio operator for CNN, and he is working toward membership in a professional union. Favorite EVC Project: "Gender Power — my group’s documentary on street harassment. Interviewing Ronnie, one of my best friends, was a challenge for me. Because of the way he always bothered girls on the streets, I wanted him to change. That’s why I interviewed him the way I did. To get him to really think about what he was doing, and have the other boys who will watch our video think about it too." Proudest Youth Media Moments: "My proudest moment was when I was standing on the stage at HBO, screening our documentary, Gender Power. I actually felt that I had achieved something great. And I felt that I wanted more. That was a motivation for me to keep going at it and doing what I love. Which is film. And I know I wont stop till I achieve my goals. My dream is to win an Academy Award for best film."

SELECTED EVC AWARDS OVER NEARLY 40 YEARS, EVC FILMS HAVE WON 130+ AWARDS. Over nearly 40 years, EVC films have won 180+ awards and official film festival selections worldwide. Below is a listing of some of these distinctions. HIGHLIGHTS EVC youth films awarded New York Area Emmy Award, 1988. “We the People,” awarded American Indian Film & Video Competition, Student Award,1993. “All That I Can Be: Military Recruitment From a Youth Perspective,” footage by EVC youth included in Eugene Jarecki’s “Why We Fight”, grand-jury award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, 2005. “Quaranteens” officially selected for the Socially Relevant Film Festival, 2021 FESTIVALS & AWARDS BY DECADE 2020s 2024 FILMS The Grass Isn’t Always Greener: Migrant Workers in the Workplace • Nou Akoma Nou Sinérji Haitian Dominican Transnational Film Festival, 2024 • VC Film Fest (also known as Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival), Official Selection, 2024 2023 FILMS Gatekeeping the Bills • Emoti-con NYC, Impact & Innovation Winner, 2023 • Social and Economic Justice Film Festival, Official Selection, 2023 • Socially Relevant Film Festival, Official Selection, 2024 In My Mind Or In Other Eyes • Nou Akoma Nou Sinérji Haitian Dominican Transnational Film Festival, 2024 Laws Written On My Body • Socially and Economic Justice Film Festival, Official Selection, 2023 The Shade of my Beauty: Breaking the Skin Barriers • Courage Film Festival, 2024 • Nou Akoma Nou Sinérji Haitian Dominican Transnational Film Festival, 2024 2022 FILMS Sugar Coated: The Truth About Eating Disorders • Emoti-Con NYC, Most Entertaining, 2022 • KIDS FIRST!, Official Selection, 2022 • Student World Impact Film Festival, Honorable Mention, November 2022 • ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Fest, Semi-finalist, 2022 • Socially Relevant Film Festival, Official Selection, 2023 Unrealistic Perfection • Student World Impact Film Festival, Honorable Mention, November 2022 Power of War: War Under the Media • Courage Film Festival, 2022 • Student World Impact Film Festival, Honorable Mention, November 2022 2021 FILMS Gentrification Report: A Bronx Story • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, January 2022 Our Child Puppet • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, January 2022 Unjust and Unequal: Education in Black and White • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, January 2022 Behind My Happy Face • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, January 2022 • George Lindsey University of Alabama (UNA) Film Festival, Florence, Alabama, Official Selection, March 2022 The Momentum of the Butterfly: Women Just Wanna Go & Fly • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, January 2022 • ChangeFest Film Festival, Chicago, September - November 2021 • CineTeen Film Festival, San Diego, CA, 2021 • Emoti-Con NYC, "Most Social Impact" Award, 2021 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth, Newark NJ, September 2021 • Shenandoah Youth Film Festival, Strasburg, VA, 2021 What's Gender Got To Do With It? • All American High School Film Festival, NYC, October 2021 • Emoti-Con NYC, 2021 • Shenandoah Youth Film Festival, Strasburg, VA, 2021 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth, Newark NJ, September 2021 • ChangeFest Film Festival, Chicago, September - November 2021 • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, January 2022 2020 FILMS Finding Hope In A Lost Cause: A Climate Change Documentary • All American High School Film Festival, NYC, October 2021 • The American Youth Film Festival, Atlanta, GA, July-Aug 2021 • ChangeFest Film Festival, Chicago, September - November 2021 • CineTeen Film Festival, San Diego, CA, 2021 • Miami 4 Social Change Youth Film Festival, Miami, July 2021 Cops Are(n't) Colorblind: Changing the NYPD from the Inside and Out • All American High School Film Festival, NYC, Nominee for Best Documentary,October 2021 • The American Youth Film Festival, Atlanta, GA, “Director’s Choice”, July-Aug 2021 • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2021 • Bronx Social Justice Matters Film Festival, NYC, October 2021 • ChangeFest Film Festival, Chicago, September - November 2021 • CineTeen Film Festival, San Diego, CA, 2021 • Do It Your Damn Self (DIYDS!) National Youth Film Festival, Cambridge, MA, 2021 • Maysles Center Youth Film Festival, 2021 • Miami 4 Social Change Youth Film Festival, Miami, July 2021 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth Film Festival, 2020 • NYC Public School Film Festival, 2020 • Reel 2 Reel Student Film Festival, Burlington, NC, October 2021 • San Francisco Social and Economic Justice Film Festival, September 2021 • Winter Film Awards, NYC, September 2021 Quaranteens • Emoti-Con NYC, Honorable Mention Award, 2020 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth, Newark NJ, 2020 • Uno Port Art Film Festival, 2020 • NYC Public School Short Film Festival, 2021 • SR - Socially Relevant Film Festival New York, 2021 Melanated: The Color Underneath • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2021 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth, Newark NJ, 2020 Living with the Enemy: Media, Mental Health, & Me • All American High School Film Festival, NYC, October 2021 • Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2021 • CineTeen Film Festival, San Diego, CA, 2021 • Maysles Center Youth Film Festival, 2021 • Newark International Film Festival (IFF) Youth, Newark NJ, 2020 2010s 2019 FILMS The Ones Who Bought Bushwick • Represent Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2019 • BHERC Youth Diversity Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2021 • Bushwick Film Festival, October 2021 2015 FILMS Growing Apart • BlackStar Film Festival, 2015 • Greenwich Village Film Festival, 2015 • International Family Film Festival, 2015 • The Tower of Youth's 19th Annual North American All Youth Film & Education Day, 2015 2014 FILMS Gender Power: Street Harassment in NYC • Strong Families Online Youth Film Festival, 2015 • The doGooder Video Awards, 2014 • Hamptons Take 2 Film Festival, 2014 2013 FILMS To Pull Together • BCHS, Harambe Award, June 2013 2012 FILMS Life Under Suspicion: Youth Perspectives on the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk Policy • Media for a Just Society Award, 2014 • NYCLU Freedom of Expression Contest, 2012 2000s 2000 FILMS Self Construct: Questions of Identity • Brooklyn Arts Council’s 35th International Film and Video Festival, Certification of Participation, 2001 2002 FILMS All Flash, No Cash • Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, Platinum Award, 2002 2004 FILMS All That I Can Be: Military Recruitment From a Youth Perspective • Interviews shot by YOTV students included in Eugene Jarecki’s Why We Fight, grand-jury award winner at this year’s Sundance International Film Festival, February 2005 • 1st Annual Media That Matters Film Festival, Economic Justice Award • Shortie Awards Video & Animation Competition, Certificate of Excellence, 2005 Patriarchy Is Malarkey • Women of African Descent Film Festival, Juror’s Choice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary 2005 FILMS Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud: Teen Suicide • Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s Youth Channel, Best Series Award Still Standing: Hurricane Katrina • Reel Teens Film Festival, Best Short Documentary, 2007 • 7th Annual Media That Matters Film Festival, Jury Award, 2007 • WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival, Bronze Remi Award, 2007 • CINE Golden Eagle, 2007 • Columbia University National Undergraduate Film Festival, Outreach Award, 2008 Alienated: Undocumented Immigrant Youth • Locomotion International Youth Film Festival, Best Documentary Award 2006 FILMS People or Puppets? Media Stronghold on Youth Culture • Brooklyn Arts Council’s Seventh Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival, Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking, 2008 • 2007Are You Game?Westport Youth Film Festival, Best Documentary, 2009 2007 FILMS It's Not About Sex • Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the ALA Notable List of DVD & Videos for Young Adults, 2008 1990s 1990 FILMS Hard Times in Cypress Hills • Association of Visual Communicators, Gold CINDY Award, 1991 • National Educational Film & Video Festival, Bronze Apple, 1991 • IAC International Film and Video Festival, Bronze Seal, 1991 • Suffolk County Film & Video Festival, Winner Student Category, 1991 Racism: The Internal Madness • Suffolk County Film & Video Festival, Certificate of Merit, 1990 Trash Thy Neighbor • National Educational Film & Video Festival, Gold Apple, 1991 • CINDY Competition, Gold CINDY Award, 1990 • JVC’s Tokyo Video Festival, Work of Special Distinction, 1990 • Sinking Creek Film Celebration, Cash Award Winner, 1990 • Birmingham International Film Festival, Best Independent Student Production, 1990 Youth Crime: Who's To Blame? • National Latino Film and Video Festival, Honorable Mention, 1983 • Big Muddy Film Festival, Jury Award, 1991 Viewing Between the Lines • National Education Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple, 1991 1991 FILMS To Serve and Protect • National Education Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple Award, 1991National Educational Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple Award, 1993 Free To Be Me • 38th Annual International CINDY Competition, Silver CINDY Award, 1991 1992 FILMS Blacks and Jews: Are They Really Sworn Enemies? • Birmingham International Educational Film Festival, Finalist, 1992 • National Educational Film and Video Festival, Silver Apple ,1992 • 17th Annual Atlanta Film & Video Festival, Best Social Critique, Honorable Mention, 1992 We, The People • American Indian Film & Video Competition, Student Award, 1993 • National Educational Film and Video Festival, Silver Apple, 1993 • Black Maria Film and Video Festival, Director’s Citation, 1992 Minds Over Destruction • Prized Pieces: The National Black Programming Consortium Inc Annual Program Awards, Special Merit, 1992 Unequal Education: Failing Our Children • CINDY Competition, Silver CINDY Award, 1993 • International Monitor Awards, Finalist, 1993 • National Education Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple, 1993 • Worldfest Houston International Film and Video Festival, Silver Award, 1993 • 13th Annual Council on Foundations Film and Video Festival, 1993 • 37th San Francisco International Film Festival, Golden Gate Award, 1993 • PCTV International Film and Video Festival, Honorable Mention, 1993 • Acclaimed documentary premiered nationally on the PBS series, Listening to America with Bill Moyers; Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, Certificate of Participation, 1997 1993 FILMS Home Sweet Gone • 10th Annual Suffolk County Film & Video Festival, 1st Prize, Student Documentary, 1993 • Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, Certificate of Merit-Finalist, 1994 Droppin' Out, Droppin' In • National Black Programming Consortium, Inc., Content Shorts Special Merit That's What They Call Art • Sinking Creek Film/Video Festival, Juror’s Merit Award, 1993 • San Francisco International Film Festival, Special Jury Award, 1993 • National Educational Film & Video Festival, Gold Apple Award, 1993 360 Degrees of Violence • Prized Pieces: The National Black Programming Consortium Inc Annual Program Awards, Special Merit, 1993 1994 FILMS Breaking Through Stereotypes • WorldFest Houston, Silver Award, 1994 • National Educational Media Network, Silver Apple Award, 1994 • 5th New England Children’s Film & Video Festival, Finalist, 1994 Rap It Up! • National Black Programming Consortium, Special Merit Award, Teens Category; • INTERCOM ’94 International Communication Film & Video Festival, Certificate of Merit Award, Student Video-Music Category Tube Babies • CINDY Competition, Silver CINDY Award, 1994 • National Black Programming Consortium, Honorable Mention, 1994 • Cultural Affairs, Documentary and Community Choice Award, 1994 Someplace to Call Home: Surviving the Foster Care System • National Educational Media Network, Gold Apple Award, 1994 • San Francisco International Film Festival, Silver Spire Award, 1994 • National Black Programming Consortium, Community Choice Award, 1994 1995 FILMS The Vicious Cycle of Domestic Violence • CINDY Competition, Honorable Mention, 1995 Guns and the Lives They Leave Holes In • National Educational Media Network, Bronze Apple Award, 1996 • CINDY Competition, Bronze CINDY Award, 1996 • 39th San Francisco International Film Festival, Certificate of Merit, 1996 1997 FILMS A Pseudo Star is Made • New York National High School Film Festival, Best Editing, 1997 Media Youthanasia • Worldfest Charleston/Charleston International Film Festival, Gold Award, 1997; • San Francisco International Film Festival, Golden Spire, 1998; • National Educational Media Network, Bronze Apple Award, 1998 1998 FILMS A.W.O.L. From The Fatherhood • National Black Programming Consortium’s Prized Pieces International Film and Video Competition, Special Merit, 1998 Waiting to Inhale • National Youth Video and Film Festival, Certificate of Recognition, 1998 Out Youth in Schools • Nashville Independent Film Festival, Best Young Filmmaker, 1998 At One Time or Another: How Teens Grieve • CINDY Competition, Gold CINDY Award, 2000 1999 FILMS Hip Hop: A Culture of Influence • Cindy Competition, Silver Award, 1999 • Cindy Competition, Bronze Award, Fall 2000 • Rochester International Film Festival, Honorable Mention, 1999 • Hip Hop Odyssey International Film Festival, Honorable Mention, 1999 1980s 1989 FILMS Abortion: Past, Present and Future • National Educational Film & Video Festival, Gold Apple Award, 1990 • London International Film & Video Festival, Gold Seal Award, 1990 • Atlanta Film & Video Festival, Best Student Video, 1990 • Canadian International Film & Video Festival, Three Stars Award, 1990 • Hometown USA Video Festival, Finalist, Programming by Youth, 1990 • Suffolk County Film and Video Festival, Certificate of Merit, 1990 New York City and the Hudson River: Downstream and Up the Creek • New York Expo of Short Films, Special Jury Prize, 1989 • Suffolk County Film & Video Festival, Certificate of Merit, 1989 • London International Amateur Film Festival, Gold Seal Award, 1989 • Canadian International Annual Film Festival, Special Commendation Nicaragua Through Our Eyes: An EVC International Youth Report • JVC Tokyo Video Festival, Work of Special Distinction, 1989 AIDS: Facts Over Fear • San Antonio Cine Fest, Emerging Artist Award, 1989 • Canadian International Film & Video Festival, Two Stars Award, 1989 • National Educational Film and Video Festival, Silver Apple Award, 1990 • London International Amateur Film & Video, Gold Seal Award, 1990 • Suffolk County Film & Video Festival, 1st Prize Student Documentary, 1990 1988 FILMS Policing the Police • Suffolk County Film and Video Festival, Finalist, 1988 Crack Clouds Over Hells Kitchen • Project 6 Awards, High School Programs, 1st Place, 1998; • JVC Tokyo Video Festival, Special Merit, 1998 • 38th Annual International CINDY Competition, Silver CINDY, 1998 • National Educational Film and Video Festival, Gold Apple, 1998 • Birmingham International Education Film Festival, Best Health and Physical Education Video, 1998 • Athens International Film & Video Festival, Winner in Documentary, 1989 • London International Amateur Film Festival, Silver Seal Award, 1989 1987 FILMS Huddlin' in the Chill • 10th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival, Honorable Mention, 1988 • London International Amateur Film & Video Competition, 1988 1986 FILMS 2371 Second Avenue: An East Harlem Story • JVC Tokyo Video Festival, Presidents Award, 1987 • National Educational Film and Video Festival, Bronze Apple, 1987 • U.S. Student Film & Video Festival, Outstanding Achievement, 1987 • Hometown USA Video Festival, Winner of Student Category, 1987 • London International Amateur Film & Video, Gold Seal Award, 1988 1985 FILMS Letta's Family • National Educational Film & Video Festival, First Place, 1986 • Hometown USA Video Festival, First Place, 1986 • Birmingham Educational Film Festival, Best Americana Video, 1988 1983 FILMS The Double Negative Lesson • The Downtown Community Television Center Community Video Festival, 2nd Place, 1983 • Video Culture Canada, Grand Prize in Student Video, 1983 • Atlanta Film & Video Festival, Finalist, 1984 1982 FILMS Artie: Down & Out on the Bowery • International Student Media Festival, Third Place in Videotape/News Documentary, 1999

INES MORALES Born & Raised: The Bronx First EVC Project: Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud (Doc Workshop, Fall 2005) Current Occupation: Program Manager, Youth Documentary Workshop and New Media Arts, EVC Education: BFA in Film and Video, City College of NY; MA in Community Organizing, Planning & Development – Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter, 2014 Films: Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud, 2005 Still Standing: Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Ines' Story Ines Morales is a Latina native of the South Bronx. Her Puerto Rican mother and Ecuadorian father taught Ines to be proud of her heritage and identity and to value hard work as the pathway to great things. For Ines, growing up in the South Bronx was a rich and complex experience. She saw both the negative and positive aspects of her community. She remembers walking up to her fourth-floor apartment and encountering drug users shooting up in the hallway, needles covering the stairway, and her mother constantly warning her to not touch anything—especially the needles. Ines also remembers happy times, enjoying their inflatable indoor pool, nights out on the fire escape, and hot summers playing in the “pump” (fire hydrant). To Ines, all of these things, the good and the bad, were normal parts of her life. Ines didn't realize that her community was facing so many disparities until, as a teenager, she joined a youth activist group called A.C.T.I.O.N (Activist Coming To Inform Our Neighborhood), which taught her how to organize for change and to understand the power she had to improve her neighborhood. Ines brought these experiences with her when joined EVC as a high school senior. She had never considered filmmaking but a counselor at A.C.T.I.O.N. suggested it. She was very excited to learn filmmaking. She co-created Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud, a video on teen suicide. During the production process she became particularly interested in editing. For her next film, Ines worked with five other youth to create Still Standing, an award-winning documentary about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. During production, she traveled to New Orleans to shoot and to engage in community service there. EVC showed Ines that activism can be creative, and she credits her work on Still Standing with opening her up to the world. Ines went on to work on EVC’s partnership with Black Entertainment Television (BET) on their Youth Vote Campaign. BET hired six EVC youth producers to create shorts encouraging young people to get out and vote. From there she attended City College, earning a BFA in film and video. Ines believes her time at EVC gave her an advantage in college: EVC showed her how to be a leader and to work with others. Ines eventually earned a Masters in social work from Hunter College, with the goal of using her degree to help communities tell their own stories for social change. Ines currently works as the clinical director of a congregate supportive housing facility. From time-to-time, she continues to work at EVC as a media coach. Most notably, she recently co-taught an EVC program at Harlem NeON, an alternative-to-incarceration initiative. Favorite EVC Project: "Definitely Still Standing. The topic was relevant and I learned so much. I learned how to work with different people. It also took me out of my comfort zone. When we went to New Orleans after Katrina we had to sleep in an abandoned school in a communal situation and it was weird to me with coed bathrooms and outdoor showers but afterwards I relaxed into it and realized what an amazing experience it was. My last year of college I decided to do a short documentary study program in India for a month. Because of my experience with EVC, I was able to handle new and different situations in India much better than a lot of my classmates." Proudest Youth Media Moment: "I think it would be when “Still Standing” won the Jury award for the Media that Matters Film Festival. I didn’t know how important this festival was until after we won. I really felt like a professional – the other films there were from all over the country and most of the films were by adults. And at EVC we had control over our project. When I think about it now, I realize “Wow, that’s a great accomplishment!” YO-TV was just an internship. I didn’t think it would go that far. And now it’s been all around."