February 2020 Newsletter
A MESSAGE FROM STEPHANIE MARTINO
Hello Everyone!
Hope all of you are having a happy and healthy 2020 so far! It is truly remarkable how the school year is flying by, February is already here and our 2019-2020 school year will be coming to a close in only four months from now! FFI’s current programming schedule has been ongoing and there have been some wonderful updates within the organization that we always look forward to sharing with all of you– including recent film festival news and the beyond successful Dual Enrollment partnership with MDC-North campus! More details to follow in this newsletter but first I will give you some of the exciting highlights!
The first phase of the after-school CINEMA program (at three MDCP-S sites) was SCREENWRITING 1 and the students worked on their MOS projects. The second phase of the program, FILM 1, started after the New Year and at the moment we have numerous narrative scripts completed and auditions have taken place at each site. The casts are now deep in rehearsal and pre-production tasks are being worked on. After these short films are completed (including a poster, trailer and behind the scenes pics & video) the student crews will begin creating music videos.
Our local teen students are full of such energy and creative talent. At each CINEMA site it is so enlightening to see our students flourish while they are learning the craft and art of filmmaking! It has been an exceptional year for our award winning program and the best is yet to come…..
It will be astounding to see all of the projects on the big screen at our annual CINEMA screening and awards show, scheduled for the end of May! From pre-production development to post production editing these high school teens have really impressed my staff and I! There has been a lot of well-deserved recognition lately for our students and our films continue to be submitted and accepted into many local, national and international film festivals. We anticipate that the projects produced this year will also be doing well this time next year on the film fest circuit!
Please see below for much more info and, of course, thanks to all of you for your continued support!
CINEMA – After School Film Program Update
There are many students at each site that are participating in the Dual Enrollment program that is being offered in partnership with Miami Dade College, North Campus. Students who complete the program for one or both semesters will earn college credit for their efforts! It’s an amazing opportunity for Junior and Senior high school students who are interested in exploring filmmaking as a creative path into their future careers!
1st Semester – SCREENWRITING 1
Alonzo and Tracey Mourning SHS, John A. Ferguson SHS and Westland Hialeah SHS have completed the first semester with the SCREENWRITING 1 component. The students learned about storyboarding, formatting scripts, story structure, cinematic language and dialogue/character development. In addition, they were able to participate in multiple hands on exercises with camera and lighting equipment. Each of the sites filmed MOS pieces.
2nd Semester – FILM 1
The same three schools listed above have recently embarked on their journey for second semester! The material for the FILM 1 component of CINEMA includes intro to the camera, editing process, visual composition, brainstorming/creative concepts and directing. The projects that will be created from this phase of the program include a short narrative film and also a music video.
For current updates and news please follow FFI on our INSTAGRAM and/or FACEBOOK pages to check out some additional behind the scenes production pics:
Film Fest Updates/News
Congratulations to the cast and crew of PRIMO (Westland Hialeah SHS, 2017-2018 school year and ANNA (2018 summer film camp)! These two films were officially selected to be screened in the Arlington International Film Festival, November, 2019 @ The Capitol Theatre. Stephanie was invited to attend the Boston based fest and represent the two films:
The 2018 summer film camp project A-N-N-A was chosen as an official selection in the 2019 Key West Film Festival and was screened in November, 2019 @ The Tropic Cinema in Key West
The 2019 summer film camp project VIVA LA REVOLUTION and a project produced in our CINEMA program last school year, STRAIGHT-ISH (JFSHS) were both selected to be a part of SCFF2020 (in the Tampa Bay area), January 2020. BIGGER.BETTER.BOLDER. BRIGHTER! The Sunshine City Film Festival… Where independent Filmmakers Come to Shine!
The 2018/2019 music video SATISFIED (from YMPA) is a semi-finalist in The Los Angeles Cinefest!
ATTENTION FFI ALUMNI!
In collaboration with The Miami Short Film Festival (MIAMIsFF), FFI is thrilled to share the news that the local fest has opened up two special student filmmaker categories to expand their “Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today” program. This allows high school and university students from around the nation to submit their shorts to these categories at a discounted rate ($15 for high school and $25 for university). Shorts selected from these categories (all genres accepted) will be screened at the 2020 MIAMIsFF. AND- winners will be selected from each age group!
We are inquiring to our alumni to see if any of you would be interested in being an “ambassador” on your school campus to promote this festival– and, of course, the very cool option to submit your work to a festival that is produced in your hometown! This would be a good time to check in with your department chairs and see if they could recommend pieces that would be a good fit for consideration.
FILM SUBMISSIONS MUST BE 10 MINUTES OR LESS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PROJECTS AND 15 MINUTES OR LESS FOR COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY STUDENT PROJECTS. CATEGORIES INCLUDE: NARRATIVE, MUSIC VIDEO, DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, ANIMATION, WEB / NEW MEDIA, ENVIRONMENTAL. More details will be coming soon. In the meantime, please check out the deadlines below and for additional fest info visit the Miami Short Film Festival.
DATES AND DEADLINES
February 15, 2020 – Regular deadline
April 15, 2020 – Late deadline
September 1, 2020 – Extended deadline
September 3, 2020 – Notification Date
November 5-8, 2020 – 19th Edition of MIAMIsFF
SAVE THE DATE! END OF YEAR FFI – CINEMA SCREENING/AWARDS EVENT- May 21st, 2020 @ MDC-N Campus
The 2019-2020 CINEMA screening & awards event will be held on Thursday, May 21st, 2020 @ 10am. The event will be held on the Miami Dade College, North Campus and is free and open to the public. If you are interested in attending please send Meagan an email to RSVP: Meagan@flfilminstitute.org or call the FFI office at 305-891-3456.
Lights, Camera, Summer FFI TEEN FILM CAMP JUNE 15th – JULY 24th, 2020!!!!
6 week workshop: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am- 1pm Coral Gables Art Cinema, June 15 through July 24, limited to ages 13-18. There may be a few scholarships available for high school students that qualify!!!!!!
The fee for the 2020 summer film camp $725 plus $50.00 reg. fee – total of $775.00.
Interested students need to fill out a required registration form and then a phone interview will be set up with the parent and/or student.
For more info and to register online click the button below or call 305-891-3456 for additional info!
FILM CAMP INFO + REGISTRATIONAlumni Spotlight
Hansel Alexander Carter IV
Since participating in FFI’s summer film camp program, I attended Champlain College in Burlington, VT in 2016 pursuing a BFA in Filmmaking. In 2017, I wrote my first short film Headshot, and was Director of Photography of my first short film Agrypnia. Last year, I produced three short documentary films in Dublin, Ireland and directed one as well. This past December, I traveled to Saudi Arabia with a group of filmmakers working on production design for one film (Cake) and acting as Assistant Director for the other which I co-wrote, entitled The Wishlist. I am in the process of writing and directing one film entitled Snowball about a young woman who is invited to a lavish dinner by an old acquaintance with a checkered past. I plan to graduate in May of this year!
FFI gave me the opportunity to experience the process of filmmaking first-hand from pre to post production all in the course of a summer. I was able to become familiar with the technology and with how different departments collaborate during production. This made me ready for working on film sets with people of different backgrounds, experiences, and styles all throughout my college career. And I loved meeting all of the amazing people who came into this truly valuable experience with me. Thanks FFI!
Alumni Survey
Please, if you are an alumni of FFI/CINEMA and have not completed the alumni survey we sent out last year, we would really appreciate you taking the time to complete this short survey. Or perhaps you want to update your information! The data received from these kind of surveys truly help us monitor and understand how our organization has helped our past filmmakers prepare for careers in the entertainment industry. Please click the button below to complete the survey:
TAKE ALUMNI SURVEYAlso – if you are a CINEMA alumni and would like to be showcased in our next newsletter send Meagan an email and let her know what you have been up to and how FFI has helped you in your current field of work or beyond!
INSTAGRAM + FACEBOOK
Follow FFI on our INSTAGRAM + FACEBOOK pages to check out some awesome behind the scenes production pics:
DONATIONS TO OUR ORGANIZATION
FFI is always seeking financial and in-kind support. In the event that you would like to donate dollars (or maybe just some sense!) please click HERE or contact the FFI office directly and speak with Stephanie.
DONATE NOWSponsored By
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, The Children’s Trust, a dedicated source of revenue established by voter referendum to improve the lives of children and families in Miami-Dade County, Miami Dade College North Campus, School of Entertainment & Design Technology (SEDT), Coral Gables Art Cinema, and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
