St. Louis High School Filmmakers' Work Hits the Big Screen!

ST. LOUIS - July 8, 2013 - PRLog -- On July 14th at 12:30pm, eleven St. Louis Public High School students will have their moment in the spotlight as film directors when their short documentaries play at the Tivoli's Main theater as part of the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase (http://www.cinemastlouis.org/st-louis-filmmakers-showcase). This is a free event to the public thanks to Cinema Saint Louis and the Pentimento - St. Louis Story Mapping Project (http://pentimento.tv/), and we are calling on everyone in support of St. Louis Public Schools to make it out to this celebratory event.

This past school year, 11 students from Roosevelt & Clyde C Miller Career Academy created 9 diverse and compelling documentaries dealing with issues facing the City of St. Louis as part of the Pentimento - St. Louis Story Mapping Project.  Stories include homelessness, haunted art galleries, Stray Rescue St. Louis, the school-food program and their own post-graduation prospects.

As part of the program, students brainstormed, developed, shot, edited and eventually premiered the films to friends and family. They fielded questions from the audience and were able to share their vision for the film and what they learned. One interesting portion of the project is that it is a job for the student, and each student is paid for their finished films. The program not only teaches video production skills, but also assists students with money management, mentoring, and problem solving skills.

“The look in the students eyes as they edit their own stories and as they sit in the back of a crowd being drawn into their stories is a priceless victory for students who often feel they have no voice,” describes filmmaker and project director Dan Parris.

This program was ran by the Midwest Center for Media Literacy (http://www.mwcml.org/) (MCML) in partnership with Speak Up Productions (http://speakupproductions.com/) and Studio STL (http://studiostl.org/) and funded by the Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Humanities Council. As they approach the third year of this program, MCML is applying and looking for funding again this year in hopes of continuing and expanding their program to include more schools and an after school photography and music production program for SLPS students.