Generously underwritten by an anonymous donor, the Woodstock Film Festival Summer Youth Film Lab is a free-of-charge educational program that teaches Mid-Hudson Valley teens selected through a competitive application process how to conceptualize and produce their own short films under the tutelage of industry professionals. The Lab will run July 6th - 24th.
In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and in accordance with social distancing guidelines, the 2020 Lab will employ an innovative online curriculum centered on teaching students how to create their own short films using iPads loaded with state of the art filmmaking software. Each participant will learn every stage of the production process and be tasked with creating an original narrative or documentary film that explores one of the following themes: “Together & Apart”, “The Best Day Ever”, “Climate Change”, and “Racism”.
“The obstacles presented to us due to the COVID-19 pandemic pushed us to think outside the box and develop this great opportunity for our students,” said Meira Blaustein, Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder and Executive Director and the Youth Film Lab’s creator. “I can’t wait to see what will surely be imaginative and moving films created by this year’s class of promising young filmmakers.”
"Any filmmaker will tell you that you don’t need a fancy camera or a million dollar budget to tell a story,” stated the Lab’s Program Director and SUNY New Paltz digital media professor Megan Sperry. “What you really need is a good story and the motivation to share it with an audience."
The Lab will be taught by three full-time instructors, overseen by Sperry and her assistant as well as an administrator who will coordinate the program as a whole. Film Lab students will also be guided by accomplished film industry professionals and guest mentors from all corners of moviemaking. This year’s Lab mentors include: actor Kelsey Grammar (CHEERS, FRASIER, HANK, BOSS), director Debra Granik (DOWN TO THE BONE, WINTER’S BONE, LEAVE NO TRACE), music supervisor Tracy McKnight (THE HUNGER GAMES, A WRINKLE IN TIME, FREE SOLO, SPACESHIP EARTH), editor Kate Sanford (THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE WIRE), producer Peter Saraf (THE FAREWELL, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), screenwriter Ron Nyswaner (PHILADELPHIA, RAY DONOVAN, HOMELAND), as well as animators Joy Buran and Noelle Melody (HUMAN KIND OF, PECAN SANDIE, POTATOES FOR PADO).