Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Fund Student Essay Contest
Through the generous support of the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund, the first annual Schools at the Festival Student Essay Contest was presented at SFIFF51. Endowed by Tim Kochis and SFFS board member Penelope Wong, the Fund aims to cultivate students’ imaginations, enhance their critical thinking and creative writing skills and instill a greater appreciation for the magic of movies in young audiences. Students were invited to write about films they saw at the Festival, explaining how they related to their own lives and experiences and how they were inspired to take action or change their beliefs. Winners and runners-up at each grade level (2–5, 6–8 and 9–12) were announced at a special preview benefit screening of WALL*E at Pixar Animation Studios. The elementary and middle school winners were awarded four tickets to the WALL*E event; the high school winner and all runners-up were awarded cash prizes ranging from $50 to $500.

Youth Media: Young at Art, Media Arts Exhibition
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, de Young Museum, San Francisco
In partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District’s annual student arts festival Young at Art, SFFS presented a 75-minute youth media program for over 200 students from elementary, middle and high schools around San Francisco. All of the films in the program were made by students in San Francisco schools and were judged and curated by Education Program staff and other media education professionals. In addition to documentaries, narratives and music videos by high school students, the exhibition included several animated shorts by middle school students in collaboration with local arts education organization Streetside Stories and an animated short by a first-grade class from Rooftop Elementary School. After the screening, four of the first-graders, one of the Streetside Stories middle school students and five of the high school students all participated in a Q&A with the audience about how they made their films.

Goldman Environmental Prize
Friday, April 1, 2008, de Young Museum, San Francisco
In partnership with the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, we inaugurated a new environmental series, with 135 students and teachers participating in a celebration of the annual Goldman Environmental Prize winners. The Prize is awarded to grassroots environmental heroes who have engaged in sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the environment. After a screening of a program of documentary shorts highlighting each winner’s individual contributions, two of the winners, Feliciano do Santos from Mozambique and Rosa Hilda Ramos from Puerto Rico, joined us for an inspirational discussion of their work. Feliciano also played traditional music from his homeland that he uses to spread the word about his activism.

“I enjoyed seeing the movies. . . . It showed me that as long as I have a strong belief and am not afraid to speak out and make a difference, I can help my community as well. It inspires me to go into my community and educate people on the negative effects we have on the environment and how we can make it better place to live like the people of Oaxaca did.”—student

Son of Rambow
Thursday, April 10, 2008, Metreon Theater, San Francisco
A group of 115 students and teachers enjoyed a sneak preview of the newest film from filmmaking team Hammer and Tongs, made up of director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith. After the screening the two filmmakers led a Q&A about the film and their many filmmaking accomplishments. One of the classes attending was currently studying comedy in film, which led to a string of questions about the subtle and unique personality of British comedy and the challenges of writing comedy scripts. The students were also invited to submit their own work to a short film contest on the film’s Web site, where young filmmakers could win the chance to get their film on the Son of Rambow DVD.

Women in Film: The Monkey Kid
Thursday, March 20, 2008, Julia Morgan School for Girls
As a supplement to their unit on Chinese history and culture, the sixth grade screened the Mandarin-language film The Monkey Kid, the auto-biographical story of a nine-year-old girl in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. Director Xiao-Yen Wang introduced the film by explaining the different stages of the Cultural Revolution and encouraged students to compare their own experiences to those of the film’s protagonist. In a post-screening discussion, the students asked questions about events in the film and about Wang’s life in China at that time, when most children lived alone in the cities while parents were sent out to the countryside to work. There was also much discussion about the making of the film and Wang’s experiences shooting a film in China about a subject generally forbidden by the government.

“Thank you again for arranging our viewing of The Monkey Kid. The girls enjoyed seeing the film, and many of the girls who are able to conceptualize and critically think about the Cultural Revolution got a lot out of seeing a visual representation of the period.”—teacher, Julia Morgan School for Girls

Women in Film: Going on 13
Monday, February 25, 2008, Julia Morgan School for Girls, Oakland
This special presentation of Going on 13—a documentary chronicling the lives of four East Bay girls from ages nine to 13—was part of a professional development day for 26 faculty members at the Julia Morgan School. After the film codirectors Kristy and Dawn led a discussion, during which the teachers all expressed a great personal connection with the film and its subjects. Many of the stories in the film gave them the chance to reflect on the hardships their own students are currently going through. The filmmakers found the experience equally beneficial, and will be utilizing the teachers’ positive feedback as a foundation for the educational outreach strategy that they are developing for their film.

San Francisco IndieFest: 2nd Verse: The Rebirth of Poetry
Wednesday, February 13, 2008, Roxie Film Center
This was only the third public screening and the first time 2nd Verse played before a youth audience. It was also the film’s largest audience to date, with approximately 250 middle school students in attendance. The locally produced documentary explores urban teen life in the Bay Area through the rising popularity of poetry and spoken word performance, following several Bay Area youth as they prepare for and participate in an interntional poetry slam competition. Many of the students in the audience had been studying poetry and spoken word with a visiting artist in their school, so it was an inspiring opportunity for them to witness the creative work of their peers and to see what they can accomplish with their writing and performing. After the film, director Carl Brown and one of the film’s subjects, Yosimar Reyes, engaged the audience in a Q&A. Yosimar talked about his experience as a slam poet and how he went from being a very shy kid to one who’s able to speak and perform in front of hundreds. He then “spit” a poem for the crowd and encouraged each of them to express themselves and make their voices and opinions heard. Representatives from S.F.–based Youth Speaks also spoke to the audience about their spoken word and writing programs for young people.

San Francisco IndieFest: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation
Friday, February 8, 2008, Roxie Film Center, San Francisco
Eighty film students attended a matinee screening of this shot-for-shot recreation of Raiders of the Lost Ark made by three 12-year-olds in the early ’80s. Now in their 30s, Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb and Chris Strompolos led a Q&A after the screening. Most of the students attended the event with their film classes, so the trio’s resourcefulness and tenacity were a big inspiration. Many questions were asked about the creation of special effects, the use of real fire and kid-driven trucks, and the seven-year process of producing the film during summer vacations. Each of the filmmakers ended with compelling advice for the students about taking advantage of the freedom and fearlessness they have as young people to make their movies, before the bigger responsibilities and pressures of adulthood.

Women in Film / Literary Adaptation: Whale Rider
Thursday, January 10, 2008, Grand Lake Theater, Oakland
The first theatrical event with the Target School, the Julia Morgan School for Girls, featured the award-winning 2002 New Zealand film Whale Rider, about an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal Maori tribe who believes she is destined to be their new chief. The entire school—comprised of more than 200 girls in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and their teachers—was in attendance. The program focused on both the strong female protagonist of the film and the female filmmakers who produced and directed it. Executive producer Linda Goldstein Knowlton participated in a 45-minute post-screening discussion with the students, which focused on the making of the film, Goldstein Knowlton’s path to becoming a filmmaker and the challenges and obstacles she faces as a woman in a male-dominated industry. The program began with a live presentation by members of a local Maori cultural group. Wearing native dress similar to that featured in the film, they performed several traditional dances, explaining their cultural and historical context, significance and relevance.

“The program was a HUGE success. One teacher sent an email about how many times he was choked up during the day (in a positive way, that is).”—teacher, Julia Morgan School for Girls

“Thank you so much for the amazing Whale Rider presentation. The girls loved it. We spent all of Language Arts the next day discussing the grandfather's motives. It was fascinating.”— teacher, Julia Morgan School for Girls

“We learned a lot about the Maori dance culture, and symbolism, which really enhanced our experience of Whale Rider. In fact, we were still discussing the dances and the movie through the weekend!”—parent

Women in Film: Phoenix Dance
Friday, December 21, 2007,Julia Morgan School for Girls, Oakland
East Bay filmmaker Karina Epperlein paid a visit to the seventh grade classes of the Julia Morgan School for Girls to show her short film Phoenix Dance (SFIFF49) and discuss art, filmmaking, disability, body image, dance and women’s issues with the students. Before showing the 17-minute film about dancer Homer Avila—who lost his leg to cancer but continued dancing and performed a beautiful pas de deux choreographed by Alonzo King— Epperlein began with a movement exercise with the girls in which they practiced moving around the room on just one leg. After the screening, the students had many questions about what it was like to film such an emotional subject and how she became involved with the project. Epperlein also discussed her experiences and challenges as a female filmmaker and how she evolved into that role from being a dancer, artist and teacher. The students were so engaged by Epperlein and her work that they requested to view a portion of her first feature documentary, Voices from Inside, about a workshop she taught with women in a federal prison. After viewing the first 15 minutes of the film, the girls had a slew of questions about the women featured in the film, their stories and their current situations and what it was like for Epperlein to work with them. Epperlein’s key message to the girls was to truly learn to trust in themselves and not allow others to sabotage their better judgment—or their lives. The students and teachers will be viewing the DVD of Voices from Inside in its entirety after the winter break with the possibility of Epperlein returning to the school to further discuss the film with them.

“I enjoyed how it touched my heart and said, ‘Anything is possible, even against all odds’.” —student

“I have always thought of becoming a director, and this presentation just made me pursue it even more.” —student

“I want to move people like I was with moved by both of these movies . . . because I can really get someone’s story out and learn about it myself.” —student

Literary Adaptation: The Water Horse
Friday, December 7, 2007, San Francisco Public Library
About 80 elementary school students were paid a visit by Alex Etel, the 13-year-old British star of the new Christmas release The Legend of the Water Horse. After an introductory discussion with the librarian about Dick King-Smith’s book The Water Horse from which the film is adapted, the students first watched the trailer for the film. Etel then answered questions about the making of the film, including his experiences shooting in Scotland and New Zealand, how he rode on a jet ski to simulate his ride on the back of the giant water horse, and how they got the dog in the film to chase after a computer-generated creature. Etel also gave us insight into how he creates emotion on the screen by sharing with us the methods used to make himself cry in some of the film’s more moving scenes. Etel then read to the students from the first dozen pages of the book and answered a few more questions about his acting career and how the other kids treat him at school now that he’s a well-known actor. The students then viewed several clips and behind-the-scenes footage from the film before wrapping up with several more questions about special effects, whether or not he’d ever seen the Loch Ness monster and how he kept up with school while he was making and promoting the film.

“Thanks very much for arranging for Alex to come to the Children’s Center! He’s a wonderful youngster and actor, and the teachers and their classes had an enlightening time! Thanks again and we look forward to further programs with you folks.” —librarian, Fisher Children’s Center, San Francisco Public Library

Literary Adaptation: The Golden Compass
Wednesday, December 5, 2007, Landmark’s Bridge Theatre, San Francisco
A diverse audience of more than 300 students from 20 Bay Area public, private and home school groups (ranging from fifth through 12th grade, plus a group from the San Francisco Art Institute) attended a free advance screening of The Golden Compass, adapted from the award-winning first novel in author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The book is part of the regular curriculum for many of the classes in attendance, so it was a perfect opportunity for them to compare the original written story to the special effects-laden film adaptation. Prior to the film, children’s librarian Barbara Vanderborght, from our community partner the San Francisco Public Library, spoke to the students about the book and the author and provided helpful information on San Francisco’s local libraries. After the film, visual effects supervisor Matt Jacobs and visual effects producer Carol Corwin from Tippett Studio demonstrated and explained some of the animated effects they helped create for the film. Jacobs showed clips of various compositing processes and answered questions from the students about how elements such as fur or snarling mouths were produced. He also talked about how he went from doodling in class as a kid to becoming a visual effects supervisor and showed a demo reel of the work he and Corwin have done with Tippett Studio on a range of well-known films. When asked what software programs had been used to generate the effects they created, Jacobs talked a bit about Maya but encouraged any interested students to play around with Photoshop as a perfect stepping stone to learning basic animation techniques and effects.

“I thought this movie was very unique and had a lot of wonderful settings. I hope they make a sequel to The Golden Compass for it was a very good movie and was very well done. I think that the theaters allowing schools to come for free to see these movies is very nice and I love being able to ask questions for the special effects people who come and actors who are in these movies that take time to come to the movies as well.” —student

“Thank you for providing such a wonderful opportunity for our young people to see great movies and learn from the special people who give up their time to answer questions. We are looking forward to future movies.”—parent

“It was a fabulous experience. My students discussed it in class and then we read the reviews in the Chronicle and discussed that also. Thanks for providing the experience which was memorable for my special education students who needs visual stimuli to help in their language arts learning.” —teacher, Marina Middle School

Music as Inspiration: August Rush
Thursday, November 15, 2007, Metreon, San Francisco
About 175 students and teachers attended a preview screening of the music-driven drama August Rush, which demonstrates the power of music to express feelings and to communicate to others, using an extremely diverse soundtrack that includes everything from gospel to indie rock to classical music. Before the screening, professional guitarist Leo King played several of these musical styles for the audience and spoke about his experiences as both a musician and teacher in the Chicago public school system and how he uses music in his life. Much like the lead character in the film, King also plays regularly as a street musician (outside of San Francisco’s museums), and he explained to the students what it was like to play for hundreds of people who pass by every day and how he was able to reach out and connect with them as a performer. King also revealed some of his secrets as an artist and how certain songs spoke to people more than others. The pre-film discussion also covered important topics such of the dearth of music programs in schools today, why music is important to us, the different styles of music that inspire students, and how to use music as a teaching tool.

“I give that movie a 100 percent thumbs up and I will be praying it will get a lot of Oscars . . . This was the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life, and as of today I’m still feeling a change inside of me because. I want to thank you for letting me see the movie, and I will say this movie is good for everybody who wants to learn music and learn all kinds of instruments.”—special education student, Lowell High School

“Thank you for letting us see the movie for free. I had a great time. My favorite part of the movie was when August began writing music.”—student, Alvarado Elementary School

Music as Inspiration: Once
Friday, November 9, 2007, Red Vic Movie House, San Francisco
As a continuation of the Music as Inspiration series, we had a special opportunity to screen the SFIFF50 and Sundance favorite Once for about 100 teachers and students. The small venue and informal setting allowed musicians and lead actors Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová to engage in a more personal Q&A with the audience that lasted a full hour after the film ended. After discussing the process of making the low-budget film, being first- or second-time actors, and their experiences working together on such an intimate, improvised film, they were asked what advice they might give to young musicians in the audience. Hansard essentially encouraged them to drop out of school and begin busking on the street like he did as a teenager. Fortunately, Irglová countered with her own advice. Having recently graduated from high school, she was planning to attend university and felt that “academic intelligence” was quite important to an individual’s success in life. Ultimately, they both agreed that the bottom line was to do and follow what you love, and the rest will fall into place. Hansard then pulled out his well-worn guitar and the duet sang two acoustic songs for the audience. Many of the students were budding musicians themselves and were very inspired by the film and Hansard’s success as a musician—going from unknown busker to celebrated performer.

“Thank you so much for organizing this event. What a great film for students to see! My kids loved it. It was so neat to have the actor/musicians there in person playing music for us and answering questions. We had a beautiful time! I wish I'd brought my camera. I’m sad to not have any pictures of this joyous event.” —special education teacher Lowell High School

“Thanks for a very memorable event on Friday. It was a thrill to meet the stars of Once, and we were surprised to hear them play and sing and to talk to them about the film. Much more than expected. You do a great job!” —teacher, Alameda–Oakland Homelearners

“Thank you so much for including us in the screening last week! The kids really enjoyed the film and question session, despite being skeptical of the film before we got there. They almost universally agreed that the film was beautiful (‘Lindo’—our Spanish speaker’s description), and that it was especially cool to get to see the actors afterward. Thanks again!”—teacher, Larkin Street Youth Services

Women in Film: Global Lens 2007
Enough!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007, de Young Museum, San Francisco
Another Man’s Garden
Wednesday, November 7, 2007, de Young Museum, San Francisco
In collaboration with the Global Film Initiative, we presented two school screenings as part of their Global Lens 2007 Education Program. Both films were also part of the Women in Film series, focusing on the rights and realities of women around the world, as well as films made by women. About 120 high school students viewed the Algerian film Enough!, set in war-torn Algeria in the ’90s, which follows two women on a dangerous search for the younger woman’s husband, a journalist whose writings resulted in his disappearance. After the film, the students engaged in a discussion with SFSU Cinema Studies professor Laurence Mazouni, who is also French/Algerian, about the structure of the film and the ways in which it represented the experiences of women. The next day, 75 high school students had the unique opportunity to watch a Mozambican film, Another Man’s Garden, about a young girl who dreams of being a doctor in a country where odds and opportunities favor men and educating woman is considered a waste of time. The screening was of particular interest to a group of students from Wallenberg High School, where many of the female students are aspiring to professions in medicine (some of them have already begun internships with Kaiser Permanente and free clinics throughout the city). The screening was followed by an interactive discussion and presentation by Alice Yelbert-Obeng from the Global Fund for Women’s Africa Program.

Music as Inspiration: When the Levees Broke
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, Landmark’s Clay Theatre, San Francisco
In collaboration with the Stanford Jazz Workshop, we presented a free school screening of Act III of Spike Lee’s epic Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke. This was the first program in our new Music As Inspiration thematic film series for the 2007–08 school year, which emphasizes the ways in which music inspires and strengthens individuals and communities in situations of tragedy, crisis or disenfranchisement. More than 200 students attended the morning event, which began with a screening of the short film Children of the Storm, produced by and featuring young students in New Orleans during their first semester back in the city after the hurricane. After the films, composer/musician Donald Harrison, who is featured in the film, was joined on stage by three teenage musicians from New Orleans to answer questions from the audience about their personal experiences during and after Katrina and how music has helped them through that tragedy. Harrison then graciously brought out his saxophone and treated the audience to several songs—from dirge to Mardi Gras march.

“When the Levees Broke was heartbreaking. To hear the eyewitness accounts of the men who attended the screening validated what was presented in the film and provided a personal element. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hear their music and their stories. It is my hope to visit the city of New Orleans in 2008.”—student

“The students loved it and were very moved. Some cried. Thank you for taking time to help this generation feel their need of empathizing with those in great need.”—teacher, KIPP SF Bay Academy

French Cinema: Bad Faith
Monday, October 15, 2007, Landmark’s Aquarius Theater, Palo Alto
Tuesday, October 16, 2007, Landmark’s Bridge Theatre, San Francisco
Our annual partnership with the French Consulate of San Francisco featured two screenings of the film Bad Faith (Mauvaise foi) for 450 French language students from Pinewood, Sacred Heart Preparatory, Woodside, Milpitas, El Camino, Washington, Lincoln, Lowell and Miramonte high schools. The film explores the emotional and familial complications experienced by a mixed faith couple (Clara is Jewish, Ismael is Muslim) in Paris when Clara becomes pregnant. The students were thoroughly engaged and entertained by the romantic comedy—even clapping and cheering during the film’s suspenseful ending. Following the feature, we screened two animated short films by French animator Louis Clichy, who is currently working for Pixar. Clichy’s Q&A with the students took place in both French and English, with questions incluidng who his film influences have been, which scenes he worked on in Ratatouille, how old he was when he made his short films, where he went to school, how his drawings went from paper to computer to screen, and whether he preferred 2-D or 3-D animation.

Women in Film: China Film Day—From Cultural Revolution to Economic Revolution
Wednesday, October 3, 2007, de Young Museum, San Francisco
In partnership with the teachers and students of the film programs of the Marin School and the Urban School, SFFS presented a dual Chinese film program for several hundred Bay Area students. The morning session featured Xiao-Yen Wang’s autobiographical 1995 Mandarin-language film The Monkey Kid, about a nine-year-old girl in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. After the film the students participated in a Q&A with the writer/director, who discussed her own experiences growing up in China in the ’70s and how those stories became the basis for her film. The afternoon session featured Micha Peled’s eye-opening documentary, China Blue, a rare look inside a blue jeans factory in present-day Guangdong, where hundreds of teenage girls work long hours and make slave wages in order to make jeans for the rest of the world. In a thought-provoking Q&A, Peled talked about his clandestine methods for shooting inside a Chinese factory and the risks he took to bring this story to the screen. He urged the students to think about how they felt about what they saw on screen and how they could make an impact with their own filmmaking.

“Today was AWESOME! It was so nice to meet the directors of the film and listen to the Q&A from the students. I will continue to come to these events. I am hoping more SFUSD schools will take advantage of these events. There is so much ‘learning away from the classroom’.”—teacher, Galileo High School

“My students—and I—are still so excited today to have enjoyed that great event with you all yesterday. I can’t even begin to tell you how much they learned from working with the de Young staff, the SFFS pros and volunteers, their Urban comrades and of course the directors. They also learned a great deal about themselves and what they're capable of, thanks to the opportunity you gave them.” —teacher, the Marin School