Professional filmmakers are teaming up with students to create films. Three New Haven Unified School District schools plan to have a Youth Cinema Project (YCP) as either a class or part of an after school program. Students will learn how to write, produce and create films. The class size will be 30 students.
YCP mentors are professional filmmakers that will be leading the classes. Two fifth grade teachers from Searles Elementary School will oversee the program that’s led by YCP mentors. YCP will come as a class in Searles Elementary, meeting twice a week for an hour and a half throughout the school year. Searles has a two-year contract with YCP, beginning this fall and ending in June 2028.
A contract has also been approved for a YCP program at Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School and Cesar Chavez Middle School for one school year. The filmmaking class will be part of an afterschool program. The middle school students would focus on developing PSA’s and a YouTube series.
Students will participate in a film festival at the end of the year where their work would be screened at a movie theatre. Students would also get a chance to lead panels and Q&A’s about their films.
