The Children’s Media Project has been around for almost 15 years now, using various media genres and outlets to foster a cooperative learning environment between youth and artistic educators. But there was one project the staff only practiced as an in-house activity, a creative game of sorts it didn’t share with the community it so vigorously supports.
Until now.
On Saturday, Nov. 8, CMP will host its inaugural “Night of 1,000 Shorts,” an evening of thematically-linked short films submitted by Hudson Valley filmmakers of all ages and curated by the CMP staff. The event will take place at 8 p.m. in the organization’s headquarters at the Lady Washington Firehouse and will include food, beverages, additional entertainment and an Audience Award for favorite film. Tickets are $15.
The theme for this year’s festival is fall, a word the CMP staff is glad will lend itself to multiple interpretations. The only rule? All entries must be shorter than eight minutes.
“We always said we should open up this idea to the public,” said Tim Sutton, the CMP’s media educator and producer as well as the host of their magazine-style, by-youth-for-youth television show Drop TV. “There’s so much going on in the Hudson Valley that it takes a while for these things to develop. But now the submissions have been rolling in. It’s been a very diverse group.”
That group includes 55-year-old Jeep Johnson, whose entry is called “Into the Light,” a 3-minute abstract piece, which he describes as a film that deals with the issue of mortality. But not completely.
“I look at the theme of ‘fall’ as representing the way seasons change and fall is also (symbolic of) the end of life,” said Johnson, a multi-genre artist who is the former executive director of Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie. “It just feels like a late fall video. But I don’t necessarily know what it’s about. I sort of figure out what a piece is about as I’m making it. I start off with images and edit them. I just try to explore what feels right.”
Not just for adults
Johnson, who spent 25 years in a variety of roles in the film industry, represents the experienced side of an evening that will include anywhere from 8-14 family friendly videos. The flip side? How about Camille Allen, an 11-year-old whose “The Fall of Nadal” was inspired by a YouTube viewing of Andy Warhol’s short “Andy Warhol Eats a Hamburger.”
“I decided to make a film because my mother was looking around for contests and she saw this one,” said Allen, whose video runs just over seven minutes and was helped along by her mother, who made the costumes, and her father, who handled the camerawork. “(The concept) was pretty much my idea, though.”
Allen’s video shows her defeating Rafael Nadal at tennis – the “fall” of Nadal – but Allen said that the film also features an autumn motif of falling leaves, and thus can be interpreted in at least two ways.
The wide age gamut between pros like Johnson and youngsters like Allen are what makes Saturday such a unique evening, according to CMP Executive Director Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt.
“We think there are a lot of talented filmmakers in the Hudson Valley,” said Fenichel-Hewitt. “We thought this would be the perfect project to promote local art and to inspire people to get involved (with filmmaking). There’s really a wide range of works. We think it’s nice to have all types of people in the community, kids and adults, learning from each other.”
The Lady Washington Firehouse was recently outfitted with a new screening room that includes new chairs and a sound system. And according to Sutton, this won’t be any flash-in-the-pan, one-time affair.
“We’re hoping this becomes a regular fundraiser for us,” said Sutton, who is co-curating the evening with CMP Director of Media Guild and Exhibitions Emily Bennison. “It’s hard to believe this all started in my living room. It’s definitely going to grow. It’s just been so much fun.”
For more information about the project, visit childrensmediaproject.org.