Reports from the Field
With the 2009-2010 school year well underway, the Young Filmmakers Program looks back to celebrate a summer full of enrichment activities, while finding itself immersed in a variety of K-12 and community projects, some new ventures which are ripe with possibilities, and others worthy
continuations of established partnerships.

Summer Camp Success
What do you get when you mix 207 young people, ages 8-18, with eight Film Center faculty, an array of film and video cameras, and barrels of fruit juice and popcorn? 18 weeks of Summer Camp, of course! The resulting fun netted more than 80 animated shorts, two superb quality original short dramas, three mockumentaries, and three hours of short films from science fiction to community
documentary. Tune in to Portland Community Media's community access station, POP 29, Sundays between 3-5 p.m. to see these and other youth-produced works from Summer Camp, the Young Filmmakers Program, and School of Film.

Teaching the Teachers
The Statewide In-Service Day on October 9 brought 16 teachers to the School of Film facility for a fast-paced, fun-filled day of hands-on learning about the media production process and how it can be integrated into the teaching of many academic subjects. Coming from districts as far away as Tillamook, and from schools as diverse as Catlin Gabel and Roosevelt High School in North Portland, the educators were guided through each stage of the media-making process, and departed with a sense of the power of filmmaking to motivate and deepen academic and social learning. We look forward to seeing what transpires in their classrooms as the year progresses.

Art: PDX
Portland - Poised to begin this fall, ART: PDX will teach students at the Metropolitan Learning Center to use elements and tools of current and emerging media technologies to create an original series of video shorts, paired with a strong focus on new media distribution methods, including Web-based and mobile technologies. The project focuses on creating a “snapshot” of contemporary artists in Portland, resulting in video portraits of 13 local artists working in various mediums. ART: PDX will be distributed via Web cast, social networking, Web-blogs and premiered at the Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium in June.

News Release

Drug Awareness Project
Newport, Toledo, Lincoln City - Entering its fifth year, a partnership with Lincoln County’s Newport High School, Toledo High School, Career Tech High School, and Taft High School is poised to produce another round of peer-to-peer public service announcements which target teen drug abuse. Known as the Drug Awareness Project (DAP), the effort is a collaboration with a coalition of Lincoln County enforcement, prevention, and social service agencies. DAP continues the work started with the highly successful Tsunami Awareness Project (TAP) and the Methamphetamine Awareness Project (MAP), all funded by a US Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing
Services grant. Look for a grand premiere at the Newport Performing Arts Center in January, with local cable television airings of the work to follow.

Right Brain
Portland metroplitan area – A new program of the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Right Brain Initiative links arts providers and K-8 schools in the Gresham-Barlow, Hillsboro, North Clackamas, and Portland School District with the goal of positively impacting literacy through integrated classroom instruction in the arts. With a focus on dramatic storytelling and documentary video production, program artists will plan, deliver, and evaluate hands-on activities in a variety of classrooms, joining in this important community effort to provide quality, equitable arts education in metro area schools.

Native Truth in Distribution
Earlier this year, the Native Truth Film Project, a partnership with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, enabled Indian teens from the Spokane Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and Yakama Nation to create peer-to-peer anti-tobacco prevention videos and short films aimed at addressing the issue of disproportionate tobacco use by American Indians. Their work, comprised of seven public service announcements and three community documentaries, has been compiled onto a 28-minute DVD, which is now available free of charge to tribes, schools, prevention programs, health educators, libraries, and other interested parties. Appropriate for grades 6 and up, the topics include: the harmful chemicals used in manufacturing cigarettes, secondhand smoke in the workplace, differing generational views on smoking, and the difference between sacred tobacco use and commercial tobacco use. Request a DVD by contacting Terresa White, Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board at 503-228-4185.