OVERVIEW:
The Oregon Latino Youth Video Project
is a partnership project of the Northwest Film Center and Oregon Council
for Hispanic Advancement. The purpose of the Project is to support the
personal, educational and pre-professional growth of disadvantaged hispanic
youth around the state by empowering them to have an active media voice
in the community
through the production and dissemination of video work created by their
own hand.
Over a three year period, professional filmmaker mentors from the Northwest
Film Center's Filmmakers-in-the-Schools Outreach Program taught scriptwriting,
on-camera perform-ance, videography, editing and group decision-making
skills to small groups of youth par-ticipating
in the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement's Oregon Leadership Institute.
Working long and often exhausting hours after school, during holiday breaks
and on week-ends, the youth drew upon documentary, experimental and dramatic
filmmaking tech-niques to write, direct, shoot, appear in and edit a series
of short video programs, many of them featuring family members and peers,
and each with poignant commentary about the tensions and opportunities
of growing up in two cultures. At completion, they premiered their work
with great pride to local audiences in their home towns of Portland, Bend
and Ontario.
The video programs, grouped into two compilations of approximately 30
minutes each, now move into the larger public dialogue as media resources
suitable for integration into community education programs, the secondary
school curriculum, teacher education pro-grams, peer outreach projects
and other cultural awareness efforts.
May their vision seed a future of cultural respect and understanding,
and inspire the lesser-heard voices of others to come.