Community Filmmaking Fellowships

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“I am extremely pleased with the process and absolutely thrilled with the film produced as a result of our collaboration with BAVC & The Factory. It is amazing that these youth filmmakers produced a film that is so sophisticated and has such a professional quality. We have wanted a film like this for many years and couldn’t be more excited to have it now."                    -- Patricia Williams, Hatlen Center for the Blind

 

The Community Filmmaking Fellowships are a collaboration between the high-school and college-age filmmakers in BAVC’s advanced filmmaking programs and socially-conscious Bay Area nonprofit organizations that could benefit from some form of visual storytelling. This could be a documentary, a public service announcement, a portrait piece or event videography. Each season, teams of young, emerging filmmakers - San Francisco State University students in the Spring and Fall, and filmmakers from BAVC's advanced video track, The Factory, during the summer - collaborate with nonprofit recepients of these Fellowships to create videos that advance their cause. BAVC produces 12-15 such videos a year.

What do we look for in our Community Filmmaking Fellows?

• A commitment to social change and the support of the underserved

• A track record of successful partnerships and consistent follow through

• A specific and thought-out plan for using the video to support organizational goals

Here is an example of a previous Fellowship video: Independence in Sight was created by Next Gen students Lauren Lindberg, Sydney Matterson, Julian Compagni-Portis and Bonita Tindle. It was used as the centerpiece for a fundraising campaign for a new facility and is shared with every family whose child is considering attending Hatlen. Independence in Sight won eight awards at National Film Festivals around the country.

Other Fellowship recepients include The Huey P. Newton Foundation, Creative Growth, the Hatlen Center for the Blind, The Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Middle School, Black Girls Code, BAY-Peace, City Slicker Farms and the YMCA Truancy Assessment and Referral Center.

If your organization would benefit from high-quality visual storytelling and if you think you’d be a good fit with our youth filmmaking team, fill out the Community Filmmaking Fellowship Application. Our filmmakers review every submission and select the projects and partners that speak to their social justice and filmmaking interests. CFP projects happen in the Spring (March-May), Summer (June-August) and Fall (Oct-Dec).

If you have questions about CFPs, contact Jason Jakaitis, BAVC’s Community Filmmaking Manager, at jasonj(at)bavc(dot)org.