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The 8th Annual Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival

Thursday, February 10, 2005

New York, NY—The eighth annual Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival will take place from March 23 to 24, 2005 at The Museum of Television & Radio in Manhattan. The Festival, featuring fiction, documentary, and experimental videos exploring issues critical to youth such as race, sexuality, hip hop, and immigration, is New York City's only film festival produced, curated, and presented by youth. The festival strives to showcase youth media's rich and diverse talent, offering the public an appreciation of the work currently being developed by urban youth producers from the New York metropolitan area.

This year's festival is a collaboration between youth media makers and educators from New York City's premiere media literacy organizations, including Downtown Community TV (DCTV), The Educational Video Center, Ghetto Film School, Global Action Project, Manhattan Neighborhood Network's Youth Channel, The Museum of Television & Radio, Paper Tiger TV, and T.R.U.C.E.

Last year's Festival attracted over fourteen hundred young people from the greater New York area to see youth-produced work, meet the filmmakers, share ideas, and screen their own videos.  This year's Festival will feature screenings, youth performers, visual artists, and a networking after-party. Also included will be the continuation of Video Slam, an open call to Youth Makers to submit work. 

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

The Festival will be presented over two days, featuring themed screening packages. The final list of included films will be announced at a later date.

The following programs are free and open to the public, but tickets (for everything but Video Slam) must be reserved in advance by calling (212) 621-6661 or (212) 621-6664. Admission to Video Slam is on a first-come, first-serve basis. All events, except the After Party, will be held at The Museum of Television & Radio, located at 25 West 52 Street, New York, NY.

Wednesday, March 23

Screening Program One: "Revelations"

Screening Times: 10:00 a.m. to noon

Screening Program Two: "Imitation of Life

Screening Times: 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Screening Program Three: "Graffiti"

Screening Times: 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 24

Screening Program One: "Imitation of Life"

Screening Times: 10:00 a.m. to noon

Screening Program Two: "Graffiti"

Screening Times: 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Video Slam!

4:00 to 6:30 p.m.

An open call to Youth Media Makers (aged 13 to 19) to submit work. Participants should arrive with a VHS copy of their short by 3:30 p.m. Tapes should be cued to an excerpt up to four minutes in length. This is a competitive screening with prizes awarded.

After-Party

8:30 to 10:30 p.m. 

Location to be announced.

For more information on the Urban Visionaries Festival, visit www.urbanvisionaries.org or contact Festival coordinator Regine Romain at Global Action Project, (212) 594-9577 or uvffcoordinator@yahoo.com.

The 2004 Urban Visionaries Youth Film Festival is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the generous support of The Open Society Institute's Youth Initiatives Program and the Time Warner Foundation.

The Museum of Television & Radio, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, was founded by William S. Paley to collect and preserve television and radio programs and advertisements and to make them available to the public. Since opening in 1976, the Museum has organized exhibitions, screening and listening series, seminars, and education classes to showcase its preeminent collection of over 100,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. Programs in the Museum's collection are selected for their artistic, cultural, and historic significance.