Youth Media Festival

An inter-generational, interactive event in Silver Spring that attracts youth, parents, and media professionals from all parts of the Washington metropolitan region. The festival includes a juried competition, a four hour video competition, social justice and media workshops, and performances on our main stage.

To learn more about the festival, visit the 2013 Youth Media Festival page. Visit our submissions page to learn how to submit your work. Want to be a sponsor? Learn how to here.

The year’s festival will take place on Saturday May 31, 2014 at the Civic Building in Silver Spring, Maryland. Activities include an awards ceremony & film screening, free workshops, live outdoor entertainment, and a 4-hour video competition. We will continue to update this page with content for the 2014 Youth Media Festival or you can call for more info: 301 592 1900 / email: [email protected] / www.facebook.com/gandhibrigade

Day of Schedule

10 am - 2 pm

12 - 3 pm

2:35 - 3 pm

1:30 - 3:30 pm

3:30 - 5 pm

5 - 8 pm

Open Screening Agenda

12:00-12:40pm
Passion for Learning - Animal Cruelty, by Jake Juzenas / Why Did You Do It?, by Alexander Stoyanov-Roberts / Same Sex Adoption, by Samantha Ebongo-Bayehe / Same Sex Marriage, by Trinity Williams

Pyramid Atlantic- Peanuts, by Rouy Delima / Shermanʼs Lagoon, by Jim Toomey / Drug Awareness!, by Zarmina Khan

JustART - ICC
Spoken Word Performance Video / Just Love Yourself / Donʼt Be Scared (Star Wars Style) / Spoken Word Evolution

The Lab School
Letʼs Make This Right, by Shanna Luster

Richard Montgomery High School
Martin Luther King Documentary, by Frank Most

Albert Einstein High School
Immigrants United, by Jocelyne Matamoros /Forget Your Past, Believe in Your Future, by Katherine Guerra

Gandhi Brigade Youth Media
Whatʼs My Story: Teri, by Teri West

12:40pm-12:56pm
Wide Angle Youth Media - Jessicaʼs Story, by Aurora Quezada / Standardized Testing, by Jeffrey Obike & Ben Loviglio-Wolf / The Paradise that Wasnʼt, by Evodie Ngoy

12:56-2:07pm
Reel Works Teen Filmmaking - From the Eyes of the Deceived, by Rama Beidak / Jhovanny The Movie, by Jhovanny Bisono / Generation Hollow, by Taylor Taglianetti / Get Real, by Douglas Worthen / Legend of Christina: Single Player, by Kimani Williams / New Hope and New Life, by Sameer Mohammed / Swinging for the Fences, by Joey Schweizer / The Age of Me, by Faith Christian / Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, by Khidr Joseph

2:07-2:15pm
Youth FX - Inside the Ring, by Darian Henry

2:15-2:39pm
Meridian Hill Pictures
Doing it for Me, by Leah Edwards
2:39-3:00pm
Youth Media in Montgomery County Coalition
Video selections by:
Passion for Learning - Gun Control, by Khanh Phan
Pyramid Atlantic - Blah, Blah Day, by Lesley
JustART - Donʼt be Scared
African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation - Memory, Family & Identity
AALEAD

Thank you to our Sponsors, Donors and Supporters!

The Workshops

Just Kids: Advocacy, Organizing, and Youth in Adult Jails

What will people learn?
• What advocacy is
• The importance of youth voice
• How to advocate effectively
• What organizing is
• How to organize support for a cause
• How to impact change in an advocacy campaign
• How youth can be charged as adults
• What happens to youth in the adult system
• Why Just Kids is working to end the automatic charging of youth as adults.

Facilitated by Rashad Hawkins:
Rashad Hawkins is the youth organizer for the Just Kids Partnership. Rashad organizes grassroots support and builds public awareness about issues and stories of real youth who are charged as adults. Rashad created the award winning youth advocacy group for the Just Kids Campaign, named the Core Alliance of Youth Leaders (CAYL). He was also the chairman and one of the main organizers of the alliance of 30 organizations that worked to stop the construction of the proposed youth jail that would have held youth charged as adults.

Seeing Through the Frame

What will people learn?
Participants will learn how to see the world through the camera and to develop a language of photography as an image-making medium, An exploration of the fundamental principles, techniques and application of camera-based image making and also cover Design issues :composition, balance, scale and dimension. Bring Camera if there is time a facilitated photo walk will be conducted at the end.

Facilitated by: Aberham Berhanu, Aberham B. Photography
Aberham Berhanu is an ethiopian born photographer/story teller and videographer based in the DMV area. He is a graduate of montgomery blair high school class of 2012 is also currently attending montgomery college. Aberham throughout the years have been awarded more than half a dozen awards and has been published numerous times as well. His photographic vision is to capture the synergy of the world we live in.

Action Visuals 101

What will people learn?
The goal of this training was to create bold visuals that can make a great center piece for a direct action. As well as to unify a group, amplify a message, invite people to have a personal interaction with your work and provide a visual story through symbols that can clarify an issue(s).
Organization Bio: The Peace House is a grassroots community organization that focuses on art, social justice issues and free education.We foster learning and activist excellence through the People’s Library and Research Center. Which assists and/or facilitates various individual, community, and world betterment projects. Such as Teach-Ins, Non-Violence Training’s and Direct action tactics for social change.

Facilitated by: Taylor Hall of TC Hall Media.
Taylor Hall, is an Artist, Activist, Writer for Independent Media Center USA and Co-House Manager of The Peace House who’s been documenting actions/events since October 2009.

Intro to Devising a Play

What will people learn?
Participants will experiment with devising, a playwrighting method used to create original work as a community. Participants will use improvisation, ensemble movement work and acting to techniques to write scenes and short plays around their passions and dreams. If you have ever wanted to write a play, a movie or create work of your own- this is a fantastic way to start or continue ideas you already have! Please wear closed toe shoes and clothing you can easily move in.

Facilitated by Katie Keddell:
Director and teaching artist focused on devised performance for social change. In 2014, she directed the Speak Out on Stage the devised theatre piece Interface. Katie has in Masters in Theatre with a focus on Theatre for Young Audiences from San Diego State University. As a production manager and assistant director, Katie has traveled to Morocco with the premier of an original play that consisted of a cast of 50% Moroccans and 50% Americans at the 34th Annual Theatre Festival of Casablanca. She is also an artistic associate of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company serving as an actor, assistant director and teacher and has directed their High School Corps Productions for three years.

WINNERS

PERFORMANCE

College
*First Place-Joseph Elder

VIDEO

College
*First Place- “One Step at a Time”
by Edgar Romero and Max Fuentes of LAYC/MMYC/MCCC.

*Second Place- “This is Connections”
by Dexter Dugar Jr. of Reel Works

*Third Place- “We Debate”
by Gilda Martinez of University of Maryland College Park

High School
*First Place- “A Message from the Dead”
by Frank Most of Richard Montgomery High School

*Second Place- “Free Running in Baltimore”
by Tyson Sanford Griffin of Wide Angle Youth Media

*Third Place- “Awkward”
by Le’Ez Simmons of Wide Angle Youth Media

Middle School
*First Place- “Friendship Rules”
by Nina and Jessica, with appearances by ELiana and Betsy of Loiderman Middle School GRRL Tech/ Passion for Learning

*Second Place- “Stop Bullying”
by Karen Flores, Nahomy Alvarez, Nicole Leon, Angie Salguero, Brittany Gamez of Loiderman Middle School GRRL Tech/ Passion for Learning

*Third Place- “The Fever”
by Amanda of Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center

PHOTOGRAPHY

High School
*First Place- Kayin Mazyck of The Gandhi Brigade

*Second Place- Kayin Mazyck of The Gandhi Brigade

*Third Place- Kayin Mazyck of The Gandhi Brigade

Middle School
*First Place- MCPL Long Branch Library Digital Lab Photo Workshops

*Second Place- MCPL Long Branch Library Digital Lab Photo Workshops

*Third Place- MCPL Long Branch Library Digital Lab Photo Workshops

VISUAL ART

High School
*First Place- Rawan Al Sulaihat of the Gandhi Brigade for Common Ground Logo

*Second Place- Rawan Al Sulaihat of the Gandhi Brigade for YMAS Logo

*Third Place- Seyi Olojo of the Gandhi Brigade for YMF flyer

MEET OUR JUDGES

PERFORMANCE JUDGES

Name:Christine Stoddard
3 Line bio
A Writer, filmmaker, and the editor of Quail Bell Magazine. Christine is also a former Cyberpunk Apocalypse Visiting Writer, one of Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40, a Puffin Foundation Emerging Artist, and a Southeast Review featured artist.
What is your social justice passion?
As an AmeriCorps alumna, she feels strongest about social issues concerning children.

Name: Diana Perez
3 Line bio:
GB Alumni, College student in the pursuit of happiness while fighting against animals used for entertainment (No circuses allowed!). Loves elephants and people who are kind.
What is your social justice passion?

VIDEO JUDGES

Sam Barth
3 line bio: Sam Barth grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland and studied film at Wesleyan University. He is currently a freelance filmmaker living in New York.
What is your Social Justice passion?
Sam’s social justice passion is education equality. Redistricting, an emphasis on testing over critical thinking and the return of de facto segregation across the country are limiting educational opportunities for millions of young Americans.

Name: Asha Diggs
3 Line bio:
Asha a recent college graduate and a Takoma Park native is fascinated by all creative outlets, whether it be media editing, handmade jewelry, creative writing and crochetting. prior to joining the Gandhi Brigade staff, she was the Athletic Video Operator at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
What is your social justice passion?

Name: Amy Tasillo
3 Line bio:
Amy moved to DC from Boston after receiving her degree in Media Production from Emerson College. She got her start doing campaign work for a national non-profit during the ’08 election, and has since worked as a freelance media producer for a variety of non-profits, government organizations, and local businesses with an emphasis on social justice issues.
What is your social justice passion?
She is in charge of Gandhi Brigade’s video production team, bringing a passion for social justice and investigative journalism.

PHOTOGRAPHY JUDGES

Name:Jose Dominguez
3 Line bio: is the Executive Director of Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center. The mission of Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center is to build communities that give life to papermaking, printmaking and artists books.
What is your social justice passion?
My social justice passion is access in all its shapes and forms such as access to a quality education, that includes arts education, access to healthy food, access to decent housing & good jobs.

Name: Emmanuel Minja, Gandhi Brigade
3 Line bio:
17 years old. Enjoy working on video production when I have free time. Part of the Gandhi Brigade Producers Tribe with Amy.
What is your social justice passion? Increasing the peace in the community.

VISUAL ART JUDGES

Name: Carien Quiroga, Mosaic artist, Arts on the Block
3 Line bio: Visual Artist - Art Educator
Art is my passion, my constant pre-occupation and my voice
Proudly South African
What is your social justice passion?
Giving Voice to the Voiceless through Art
Women, Youth, the Environment

Name: Mayo Olojo
3 Line bio: Gandhi Brigade youth learning story telling and photography.

What is your social justice passion?

To view our winners from past years, visit our previous festivals page.

Gandhi Brigade