Teen Workshop: Documentary Filmmaking and Creating Understanding

Description

Join James Robinson, Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, video producer for New York Times Opinion, and author of the recent young adult book Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen, for a documentary workshop for teens focused on generating understanding through creativity. By sharing his personal experiences as well as the stories of others, James’s short How Life Looks Through My ‘Whale Eyes’ and his Adapt-Ability series explore how it feels to live with a disability while also promoting recognition, understanding, sensitivity, and compassion. In this workshop, James will lead students through his own work and break down strategies and storytelling skills that transform misunderstanding into connection. Students will then be able to work on their own film idea guided by the question “How do we get people to care?” while pushing students to reflect on a piece of their story that the world might not understand. – Soph Schultz Rocha

Students will have the chance to ask the director about his career and advice for getting started into documentary filmmaking. Students are encouraged to come with a story that is important to them as well as a notebook. If students have a copy of his book Whale Eyes, they can bring it to be signed.

ATTENDEE INFORMATION

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.