Story by Jemima Osea-Asante. Photographs by Craig Wallace.
In less than three weeks Type Cast is set to air at the Tribeca Film Institute’s Our City, My Story showcase, and while I feel the excitement in the Urban Arts offices I also see a sense of accomplishment among the members of the MediaLab Team. Today was all about preparing for the event, and while I always knew my MediaLab peers were capable of being proficient, I was really impressed with the leadership skills everybody demonstrated.
Our producers worked on making phone calls to other MediaLabbers who were not able to make it to class this week. We confirmed that all filmmakers had turned in their permission slips and booked each one to represent at an afternoon or evening screening. We are not playing games and are determined to see our documentary on the big screen!
MediaLab Producers calling out the troops. We mean business, people!
Every filmmaker also prepared his or her “elevator pitch.” An elevator pitch is a speech one makes in a short amount of time, usually 30 seconds, during which one shares his or her ideas with a superior, in our case, the producers at Tribeca. Picture yourself stepping into an elevator on the first floor to find your boss coincidentally on his way to the 40th floor. You have a short amount of time—the length of the ride—to pitch him your idea. We have been practicing different ways to make those 30 seconds count. During our role play, my two personalities were “Roberta De Niro” and “Aunt Jemima Jolie.”
Entourage meets entourage. That's Aunt Jemima Jolie and Robert De Niro on the left, with emerging filmmakers delivering their pitch on the right. A complicated web of handshakes ensues.
We hope to see you on April 29th at the Tribeca Film Institute, where hopefully you will get to see a preview of our elevator pitches!
Story by Producers Marlin Almonte and Stephanie Fleming
On December 9 we screened Ghetto Talks and Type Cast for two groups of audiences at the Harlem Stage Youth Speak: Breaking Stereotypes & Reshaping Identity series. After each screening we had a Q&A session with the audience members. They had a lot of questions, and we answered them all.
MARLIN ALMONTE: It was the first time I had ever led a Q&A, just the audience and me. “What new knowledge or content did you learn as you worked on Ghetto Talks and how has it changed your life?” one person asked. I was thrilled with this question because I actually learned so much working on the documentary; this new knowledge impacts me every day. Not only do I know the history behind the word ghetto but I also know other people's perspectives. I'm much more open-minded now. I became more aware of all the different nuances of the word.
Seeing the enthusiasm of the Harlem Stage audience gave me a feeling of accomplishment. I felt proud of all the hard work my team put into making Ghetto Talks.
STEPHANIE FLEMING: After screening Type Cast, I asked our audience if anyone was affected by diabetes, and I was surprised by how many people raised their hands. That right there showed me that anyone of any age, any race or any color can be affected by this epidemic.
The audience members had some really good questions, too. One person wanted to know if either of the two personal narratives in Type Cast had affected me in any way. My answer may have shocked many people. I told them that I was deeply affected by Tiffany's story about losing her father to Type II diabetes because my mom’s boyfriend has Type II.
I thought the Type Cast screening at Harlem Stage was cool because when I watched the film on the big screen I realized just how much my camera work has grown since joining MediaLab. I also liked the audience's questions because they helped me realize that people really do care about the film’s message.
Overall, the audience seemed engaged in both of our films. Many students came to us afterwards to ask about Urban Arts. They seemed really interested in the work that we do.
If you are a public school student interested in joining the MediaLab program, write to medialab@urbanarts.org to request an application. Admissions are rolling.
And stay tuned for the online release of Ghetto Talks!!!
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.
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...
