Documentary Filmmaking & Activism Workshop for Teens
Description
Join Jalena Keane-Lee, award-winning filmmaker and director of Standing Above the Clouds, for a documentary workshop for teens. Taking a deeper look at documentary filmmaking through a social justice and activism lens, Jalena will lead students through workshopping a documentary approach to a social cause. Students will be guided by the question “What is a story worth telling?” and collaboratively brainstorm a mock plan and treatment. The filmmaker will screen her short precursor to the feature, also called Standing Above the Clouds, and give a presentation on her career in filmmaking as well as the documentary process from idea to completion.
—Soph Schultz Rocha
Students will have the chance to ask the director about her career and any advice for getting started in documentary filmmaking. Students are encouraged to come with a social justice cause or community issue that is important to them as well as a notebook!
This workshop runs for two hours and is open to students ages 13–18; space is limited. This workshop is for students only, parents and guardians may drop off their students.
Jalena Keane-Lee is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. Jalena, named 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch, is currently touring her first feature-length documentary, Standing Above the Clouds. The film premiered at HotDocs in 2024 where it won the Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Doc. Her short films have streamed on POV and Criterion Collection, played at over 50 film festivals, and won best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all-women-of-color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content.
