Founded in 2001, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking is a full-time non-profit media arts organization that serves over 150 teens each year through four core programs: The Lab, The Lab Master Class, Reel Impact and Teen Film Camp.
The Lab, a free after-school workshop, challenges high school students to create short documentary films about their lives. Working one-on-one with professional filmmaker-mentors, students write, shoot and edit personal narrative videos on subjects they choose. In the process, they gain self-esteem, develop media literacy and master digital filmmaking technology. We say to teens: You have a voice! Use it!
Since we began, our student’s films have been broadcast on HBO Family, PBS and LINK-TV, web-cast on HBO Family, Uth-TV, AOL True Stories, our own site, www.reelworks.org, and presented at film festivals nationwide from the American Film Institute in Hollywood to The Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan. Our teen filmmaking program has been featured in The New York Times, The Daily News and on MSNBC, PBS, CNN and ABC World News With Charles Gibson. We have won numerous awards including one National Student Emmy for Best Documentary and four Honorable Mention Student Emmys.
Reel Impact is our comprehensive distribution program in which teen filmmakers learn how to bring their stories to new audiences through broadcast, web-cast, film festivals and community screenings. A student-led committee responsible for over 50 films in our film library submits films to festivals and broadcasters throughout the year. Teens curate and program the www.reelworks.org website as well as several other partner sites. Through partnerships with educators and non-profits working with teens, our student’s films are used as educational tools on subjects such as teen pregnancy, teen depression, confronting racism and more. Last year, over a million people saw our work and over 60% of all films produced in the Lab find audiences outside our immediate community.
To learn more about Reel Works, become a mentor, get a video of our student work or lend your support, call Lab Coordinator Kristin Wernicke at (718) 768-7100 Ext. 139 or visit our website www.reelworks.org.
