Actors promote BESD cinema project
BRAWLEY – Though Barbara Worth Junior High student Robert Castro had originally written his “Area 51” script to be performed by his classmates, he said he enjoyed watching cast members of the hit Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” act it out as well.
The professional actors performed a virtual live reading, complete with stage props, of Robert’s script in May in an effort to support his and his classmates’ contribution to the Latino Film Institute Youth Cinema Project.
Following their virtual live reading, which Robert called exciting, the participating actors praised him for his talented writing and imagination, and encouraged him and his classmates to continue to use their
weird and unique voices in writing and on film.
Robert, who appeared to be right at home among the large virtual gathering of Hollywood stars, said he intended to do just that.
“Prepare for the next part of ‘Area 51,’” Robert told the assembled cast, who then lauded his ambition.
The Brawley campus has participated in the Youth Cinema Project (YCP), founded by actor and director Edward James Olmos, for the past five years. Typically, the participating students’ projects will be screened in Los Angeles in the presence of YCP and film industry personnel toward the end of the school year.
But with COVID-19 having shuttered the planned screening, the film institute enlisted dozens of actors from
popular Latino TV shows to perform a series of live readings of a select number of students’ scripts in support their respective film projects.
The feedback the effort generated from participating public school district superintendents, principals, and teachers was overwhelmingly positive, said Sergio Monserrate, Latino Film Institute YCP director of operations.
“What we are most proud of, however, is the response from our students,” Monserrate said in an email. “They felt so empowered, heard, represented and important. It was incredibly heartwarming to see their reactions when their scripts were being read.”
The Brawley Elementary School District is one of 12 statewide school districts that participate in the cinema project.
At Barbara Worth, the program is offered in English classes at the seventh- and eighth-grade level. Students meet for 90 minutes twice a week to learn about the film production process through collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking.
When the pandemic had interrupted the students’ production schedules last school year, Latino Film Institute officials quickly realized the need to adopt a distance-learning model in order to finish what the students started.
This was made possible through teamwork and the time-consuming process of turning the project’s entire filmmaking curriculum into presentations and videos that could assist the YCP mentors in the virtual classroom.
Mentors, who had previously worked inside the classrooms with the students, also had to be trained on how to retain attention, engagement and inspiration in a virtual environment.
“Because of our success ending the year, we knew the program was valuable even in a distance-learning format,” Monserrate said. “We feel totally prepared to support our students and the districts we work with.”
The film institute is currently working with some 1,500 students statewide this school year, and has produced 550 student films to date, the YCP website stated.
Seventh-grade English teacher Amy Quarcelino was the first to offer the YCP at Barbara Worth Junior High during the 2016-17 school year. The following year it was expanded to the eightgrade level as well.
Her class of about 30 students have broken into groups and will produce six separate projects. With the first half of the semester underway, students are concentrating on writing and developing scripts. Filming and editing typically take part during the second semester. At the moment, it remains uncertain whether that part of the process will take place on campus.
Quarcelino said she was grateful the film institute has been able to tailor the program to the specific needs of a particular school. One of the greatest rewards she said she has received from hosting the program is observing how an initially shy or indifferent student eventually warms up to the cinema project.
So far, there has been at least one such student in her class every semester.
“It’s a privilege to be in the room and watch these kids blossom into what they know they are capable of doing,” Quarcelino said. “It’s a phenomenal thing to witness as a teacher.”
To view the “Narcos: Mexico” actors’ live reading of Robert Castro’s “Area 51” script, as well as other students’ past projects, go to the Youth Cinema Project’s website at www.youthcinemaproject.org or its YouTube channel.