Berkeley non-profit Pinch Me Films is calling for youth participants to assist with parts two and three of their documentary series "The Silence of Sex". Part One was featured on CBS Los Angeles and will show at the New York Independent Video and Film Festival in Los Angeles on September 30th.
Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) June 17, 2004 -- Pinch Me Films (www.pinchmefilms.org) has announced that production of parts 2 and 3 of "The Silence of Sex" will begin in July, and that young people will be a vital part of the production process. The Silence of Sex Project (www.thesilenceofsex.com) gives teens the critical thinking skills, information, and support they need to make healthy decisions about starting, or waiting, to have sex. This phase of the project will give them the tools to express themselves through film as well.
Pinch Me Films staff is actively recruiting motivated young people, ages 15-20, to write and shoot drama pieces about STD's, HIV, pregnancy, and abortion in a workshop format. The workshop will give participants experience in the pre-production and production processes of documentary film making as they work side by side with experienced film makers and writers. The finished films are expected to receive broad distribution and significant media attention.
Giving teens the power of media:
The workshops will be held in conjunction with Pinch Me Films' Storytelling as Video Expression (SAVE) program. Designed to help students produce insightful video projects about social issues, the program gives young people a creative forum to explore and express their own feelings and attitudes about the topics most important to them. The pilot program is now underway in Berkeley public middle schools, in collaboration with Berkeley Community Media (www.betv.org), Alameda Countys public access channel.
According to Executive Director Julia Robertson, "Our mission is to engage kids to think critically and understand that learning can be fun. What better way to reach them than to give young people a voice in making the films?"
Press Attention
The initial film in the series, Silence Ain't Sexy, was recently featured in a story about "Young Love" on Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCBS. Pinch Me Films' work to change the way young people learn about sex has also attracted the attention of Diane Sawyers Primetime on ABC. The show may document this SAVE workshop as part of a piece about the changing influences of sex education and the media on teens.
About Pinch Me Films
Pinch Me Films (PMF) is a non-profit organization that promotes social change by creating and distributing entertaining and educational media for youth. The organizations name was chosen to reflect our mission to help people wake up and talk candidly about important social issues that are obscured by silence, ignorance, or hype.
Director/Producers: Crescent Diamond, Julia Robertson and Nils Moe co-founders of PMF (Bios available at http://www.pinchmefilms.org/bio.htm). Our Board of Advisors includes Barbara Huberman, founding board member of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and current National Director of Education and Outreach Education for Advocates for Youth, Washington D.C.; Dr. Lynn Ponton, author of "The Romance of Risk: Why Teenagers do the Things They Do" and "The Sex Lives of Teenagers"; and Dr. Dale Rose, an expert in psychometric measurement and evaluation of educational programs. Part one of the "Silence of Sex" documentary series has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood. Part two is in production.
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