The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) and NYC Department of Education (DOE) announced on March 10 that they are calling on DOE student filmmakers to conduct on-camera interviews with leading film industry professionals, as part of the 3^rd Annual New York City Public School Film Festival taking place May 6, 2021. The interviews, designed to inspire young people across the city to consider careers in media and entertainment, will be available online following the festival.

 

Representing five distinct leadership roles in the filmmaking process, the professionals to be interviewed by student filmmakers include: Kristan Sprague, award-winning editor of “Judas and the Black Messiah;” Tamar-kali, composer of “John Lewis: Good Trouble” and “Mudbound;” Nina Yang Bongiovi, executive producer of “The Godfather of Harlem,” “Fruitvale Station,” “Sorry to Bother You,” “Roxanne Roxanne” and “A Kid from Coney Island;” Kemp Powers, award-winning writer of “Soul” and “One Night in Miami;” and Liesl Tommy, director of “Jessica Jones,” “The Walking Dead,” “Insecure,” “Queen Sugar” and the new Aretha Franklin film, “Respect.”

 

DOE teachers will choose student filmmakers to produce 20-minute, edited videos comprising interviews and behind-the-scenes footage highlighting each professional’s work.

 

The New York City Public School Film Festival is an opportunity for students to submit their work and perhaps see it screened. Twenty student films from public schools citywide will be selected in the categories of feature/narrative, animation, experimental, PSA advocacy and documentary, by a panel of NYC Public School Film Festival teachers and media professionals. The chosen student filmmakers will represent the diversity of public school student voices across the five boroughs.

 

NYC DOE students can submit their work through March 16, 2021.  For rules and regulations please go to filmfreeway.com/NYCPublicSchoolFilmFestival.

 

NYC Public School Film Festival’s 2020 virtual screening received 15,000+ views of the selected student films, as highlighted in the 2019-20 Annual Arts in Schools Report.

 

The mission of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is to ensure New York City continues to be the creative capital of the world by supporting film, television, theatre, music, publishing, advertising and digital content and ensuring those industries work for New Yorkers. In 2019, the creative industries account for more than 500,000 local jobs and have an economic impact of $150 billion annually. MOME comprises four divisions: The Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting; NYC Media; the Office of Nightlife; and educational and workforce development initiatives.