Media

 

Story by Daniel Familia
Photographed by Joshua Davis

 

 
PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN -- In the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn there is an organic food shop called the Park Slope Food Co-op. This is a heaven for people who search for organic food.  From bright leafy greens to smelly cheese, they have it all.  It is a busy place: many people walk through of all shapes, colors and sizes.
 
 
To shop at the Park Slope Food Co-op you need to be a member. It's a great way to bring fresh, organic, non-genetically engineered and locally-grown products to the community.  At a point when diabetes rates are high in communities of color, which are often disenfranchised, it is alternatives like this that introduce communities to healthier ways of living.
 
 
The problem is that Park Slope is not a disenfranchised community. It is actually one of Brooklyn's wealthiest neighborhoods. According to the Points2Homes website, the average yearly household income in Park Slope is $90,450 as compared to $33,418 in West Farms, The Bronx, which is where I live.  What's more, Park Slope residents spend 124% of the national average on food versus the 69% of the national average that West Farms residents, like me, spend.
 
I often wonder why it is that in my community there are three shops within a four block radius that have glazed donuts and high-sugar drinks.  There are no organic or fresh fruits and vegetables shops there.  No wonder diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity rates are higher in communities like mine. If there were more alternatives like the Park Slope Food Co-op in our disenfranchised communities, we might be more aware of healthy food alternatives.
 
 
 
We hope the Type Cast Response Project will help bring awareness to this issue, and I personally hope that more farmers’ markets will be introduced to my community.
 

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MediaLab Alum Daniel Familia Screens Ghetto Talks for His College Classmates

27 Dec 2010, 4:36 PM by Elizabeth Rodd, Urban Arts MediaLab

 

Story by Producer Daniel Familia

 

In the Fall of 2010, I screened Ghetto Talks in my English class at LaGuardia Community College.  The idea of screening the film was born from a class discussion about what it means to be a Latino in America and what it means to be a Latino in New York City.  Big urban cities such as New York are known to be the home of many people of color; these people can be seen as “ghetto."

 

My English class is part of a cluster of classes that revolve around the theme of Latino and Latin American studies.  When discussing what it means to be a Latino in New York City many said being poor and living in the ghetto--communities in places like The Bronx, Brooklyn, and El Barrio (The Village), which used to be home to the majority of the city's Puerto Rican communities.  Due to gentrification these communities were forced to move to more disenfranchised areas far away from the city, causing them to be seen as poor or "ghetto." 

 

Many of my classmates initially reacted in a negative manner to the film, thinking it was saying that such stereotypes are true.  In the end, however, they saw the change that the word has undergone throughout history and they managed to identify with the film's message.

 

In my opinion, Ghetto Talks is about showing the power of language and how the word “ghetto” has an impact on everyone regardless of race, class or gender.  Ghetto Talks shows how much history there is within this word.  It has been used to categorize people, to name places where people were forced to live, and to describe people who are disenfranchised and placed in certain areas in urban cities.

 

At one point, for example, Cora Daniels, author of Ghetto Nation, describes how Paris Hilton uses the word "ghetto" in her reality television show to describe a broken-down truck.  Cora points out that she is not complimenting the truck; she is saying that the truck is worthless.  Her interpretation pushed my peers to think about what the word meant to them, and they all agreed that on a certain level the word “ghetto” does not have a positive meaning.

 

Another point that got my peers interested was when cameraman Shamrod Lockwood said that he sees the word “ghetto” as a form of pride, one that points to a sense of survival.  My classmates all nodded their heads.  Looking at them, I realized that their interpretation must fall somewhere in between.  They acknowledged that the word could be seen from different perspectives, but it did not affect their point of view overall.

 

As a filmmaker, I did not intend to change my classmates' point of view, but I wanted them to see other ways of thinking, how throughout history the word has impacted different groups of people in different places--from Jews in Europe, to African-Americans in the projects, to Latinos and minorities in underserved areas like The Bronx and Brooklyn.

 

I believe it is my personal responsibility to reclaim the word and share my opinion with others. Screening Ghetto Talks made me feel influential and empowered.  I am showing people that words have meaning, but words can only mean what we agree upon as a society.  If, to a vast majority, "ghetto" is a negative word, meaning "underserved" or "failure," then this is what the word "ghetto" will come to mean for all of us.

 

Ghetto Talks has completed it's run on the film festival circuit, so the MediaLab crew is pleased to release our film online.  Check it out here>

 

Story by Robert Matos

Viandra McCarthy, representing Kurt Hahn's The Violence Movie, and Robert Matos, representing MediaLab's Type Cast

 

On Saturday, December 4, the afternoon session of the Urban Arts MediaLab team received guests who were students and also filmmakers from the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in Brooklyn.

The Kurt Hahn students gave us a preview of a rough cut of their film The Violence Movie, which showed acts of direct and indirect violence both in and out of school. The students featured in the film performed skits and shared personal stories of their encounters with violent situations.
 

Kurt Hahn students lead The Violence Movie Q and A session.

 

After the screening we had a Q and A session with the Kurt Hahn students in which we were asked to give feedback. I recommended that they be careful about possible copyright infringements when using archival film clips and that they think about whether they want to present a radical point of view or be more objective.  Other than those two comments I can see their film being very successful and popular with the public.

 

Then we turned the tables . . .


 

The MediaLab crew leads a discussion of Type Cast.  Yep, that's Viandra McCarthy again... She worked on both films!

 

After The Violence Movie Q and A session the MediaLab crew presented our film Type Cast, which deals with the diabetes epidemic in the adolescent community.  We received useful feedback from the Kurt Hahn in-school crew: they felt a strong connection with our main subjects, Josh and Tiffany, but recommended that we use our audio in a stronger way so that the audience feels like the audio is a character in the film.

 


Teaching Artist Vee Bravo has some thoughts about audio.

 

In the end, the MediaLab crew learned something from the Kurt Hahn film crew and they learned a few skills from our side, based on our experiences inside the industry.

Keep checking back over the holidays. . . . There's always news from the MediaLab crew!

 
Story by Jemima Osea-Asante
Photographed by Marlin Almonte and Ihor Hrynivetskiy

Ricardo Castro sits down for an exclusive interview.
 
One of the reasons I believe the MediaLab documentary Type Cast has been so successful in empowering people to take better care of themselves is because of the personal experiences the filmmakers have contributed to it. There is a sense of emotion in every segment of the film—from the b-roll to the call-to-action moments to the soundtrack.
 
In “God Bless,” a heartrending song by recording artist Ricardo Castro, the fourteen-year-old Queens resident raps about his direct experience with diabetes. In an exclusive interview, Ricardo shared with us that the lyrics were inspired by watching his great-grandmother and grandmother suffer from the disease. When asked how it made him feel to know that diabetes has taken a toll on his family, he responded with concern toward his own health: “It’s upsetting because it puts me and other members of my family in danger of developing diabetes.”
 
Many people with family members who suffer from diabetes share Ricardo's concerns, including me. Ricardo’s call to action is to play basketball and exercise. I find it really admirable that he shared a private memoir of his life through song to help spread the message of diabetes prevention and to empower those who have it to be proactive about their health.
 
Ricardo shares a picture of his great-grandmother.
 
Ricardo’s artistry comes from the obstacles he faces in life. There is no fiction in his music, and rapper Eminem is a strong influence. “Eminem uses his personal experiences and puts them down on paper instead of writing about things that don’t really matter,” says Ricardo, who appeared upbeat and humorous throughout our interview.
 
 
This friendly and poised young man added that he got connected with Urban Arts to lay down the track after participating in a music production workshop led by teaching artist Johnny Voltik: “I came in, made the beat and recorded the song here.” 
 
We hope to see more of Ricardo around the Urban Arts offices, making music and expressing himself. He’s even considering joining the MediaLab team.  Stay tuned to find out if he does...

 

  

Story by Omar Cyrille
Photographed by Craig Wallace
 
On Saturday afternoon, October 30th, I walked in to an unusually empty Urban Arts office to discover that our crew from high schools across New York City had been divided up into editing rotations by school.  The afternoon block was devoted to the Kurt Hahn editors.  Producer Joshua Davis and Teaching Artist Elizabeth Rodd were already going over the groundwork for editing our Type Cast interview with Senator Eric Adams.  Captured over the summer, the interview focused on the impact of the diabetes epidemic in his Brooklyn district.  Craig Wallace, another Kurt Hahn student, arrived shortly thereafter.  Before the work started, we all enjoyed some food and discussed our strategy for the rough cut ahead.
 
Editing the Senator Eric Adams interview.
 
We began to go through the clips and rotated roles so that we all got a feel for the editing equipment.  As I was playing the "backseat driver" so to speak, contributing ideas while Josh manipulated the footage, I started to think: editors have amazing vision and creativity.  Their skills are crucial to making the project a complete success.  An editor can make someone sound really smart or really dumb.  Of course everyone has a say, but at the end of the day, the editor is the main guy or girl.  They have the project at their fingertips and can decide which way it goes.
 
The Kurt Hahn crew had done editing before but had never gone to this level.  The growing pains were short, which allowed us to put together a solid rough cut. The new skills we acquired really pushed our versatility up another notch.
 
 Editors Joshua Davis and Omar Cyrille.
 
The guidance of our teacher and the chemistry in the room were the x-factors. This was a great opportunity to polish our work.  For me, just knowing that what I was doing was so important to this response piece was a great feeling, and it continues to drive me to learn more.
 
Photographer Craig Wallace on the other side of the camera.
 
Thanks for reading the MediaLab blog.  Check out Craig’s pictures of the session, and keep checking back for more updates on the Type Cast Response Project.
 

 

On Thu, Nov 04, 2010 at 8:51 PM, Cmac wrote:
Omar, Josh, and Craig-- so cool that work you are doing! You are establishing a high bar for the Kurt Hahn students who will follow in your footsteps! I can't wait to see the final product! all the best, Mr. Maciejewski
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