Classroom Politics

Yesterday I wrapped up a teen filmmaking workshop at Northwest Documentary Arts and Media. The content of the workshop itself wasn’t very different than the teaching that I do in my normal life as an artist in residence at the Northwest Film Center, but this workshop was actually produced solely for the purpose of capturing footage of myself as an educator for The Adults.

One of the major themes of the film is my relationship with young people in contrast to Peter’s, as well as—though I hate to sound immodest—the fact that I’m pretty damn good at teaching kids. That means shooting the beginning few days of the type of class in which I (and students) shine: a week-long filmmaking intensive.

“But wait,” you (and a lot of other people) ask, “why not hold a one day workshop, if you only need a few minutes of footage?” It’s a valid question, and I considered that option, but the moments that I want to capture on film are the ones in which young people are opening up and expressing themselves, talking about the films they want to make and the stories they want to tell. That process is a difficult one, and without the promise of actually being guided through the production of that film on the back end, there wouldn’t be anything keeping them at the table. Even though I only need a day or two of footage, the students need the promise that a real film will come out of the process for them to be motivated to participate.

Taking cameras into one of my existing classes was out of the question, since introducing a camera crew would jeopardize what I’m trying to do in the classroom. The participants have to know what they’re getting into off the bat. And utilizing the facilities of the Northwest Film Center wasn’t an option at all, since I am essentially offering a version of a class that I already teach for free, which would be unwanted competition.

So then we tried to go to another nonprofit. At first, it seemed like Northwest Documentary Arts and Media would be a perfect partner: they have the space, they offer classes already, but none in narrative work, and their executive director Ian McCluskey is a huge supporter of the film. When I presented the idea to their board, it seemed like a slam dunk. One board member even asked “why wouldn’t we do this?” I explained that the ONLY possible snag would be if a parent objected to the broader content of the documentary, which I then explained but added that it had absolutely no bearing on the workshop, and that as far as the kids were concerned, it was just a class. But it didn’t matter; from that point on every discussion was about whether the students would be “harmed” or “exposed”. There were two emergency board meetings held on the issue before they determined that they couldn’t include it as one of their programs. Luckily, Ian had the ability to provide the space as a (highly subsidized) rental without getting board approval, but without the partnership of the organization, there was no marketing. That meant that recruitment would have to be cobbled together from Craigslist posts, Facebook status updates, and word of mouth. In addition, since the workshop was not part of Northwest Documentary’s programming, we were not included in their insurance, so we had to buy our own.

When the first day of the workshop rolled around, I was expecting a maximum of five participants. Instead, I got eleven of the brightest, most charming, and most enthusiastic teenagers I’ve ever worked with. We had a great workshop, and the footage we captured is fantastic. Anna was able to zero in on several of the touching moments that reveal themselves when a group of young people are encouraged to express themselves.

Extra special thanks goes to to Ian McCluskey and Julie Gliniany for supporting this project and putting up with us in their office for an entire week. For the footage we got, I promise it was worth it.