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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 17, 2013
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| Contact: Mary Ann Kearns
617-868-7100 x 17
maryann@communityartcenter.org
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16TH ANNUAL DO IT YOUR DAMN SELF!! NATIONAL YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL
EMPOWERS TEEN VOICES
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CAMBRIDGE, MA - The award-winning Teen Media Program (TMP) of the Community Art Center proudly presents the 16th Annual Do It Your Damn Self!! (DIYDS!!) National Youth Film Festival on May 14th- 18th, 2013 at the Microsoft NERD Center, the Boston Public Library, MIT's Bartos Theater, and Cambridge's Kennedy-Longfellow School. DIYDS!! is the longest-running youth-curated film and video festival in the country. Created in 1996, DIYDS!! was founded by five teenage girls felt that youth-produced videos did not have enough outlets to be viewed and appreciated by a wider audience. DIYDS!! now serves as an empowerment tool for young people to gain important leadership and public speaking skills, as well as an opportunity to use video as medium to communicate issues that are relevant to them.
The festival is expected to welcome nearly 1,000 teens, adult mentors, and community members, as well as local business technology and media professionals from across New England and beyond. This year, the Cambridge teen curators screened over 100 entries and selected the final 15 films based on various criteria including technical quality and strength of message. Film selections for DIYDS!! 2013 include:
- Iron Face (Boston, MA): A view of a
 childhood in Monrovia, Liberia, where civil war makes life like a dangerous roller coaster. - Turkey's Children's Rights (Turkey) Follows the story of children in Southeast Turkey who are denied education and other basic rights.
- Bullies in Uniform (Baltimore, MD): Focuses on a time when the filmmaker was wrongly accused of a crime by Baltimore police.
- Summer Break (Chicago, IL) The coming of age story of a girl struggling to stay true to herself instead of following in her sister's footsteps.
- Voodoo Child (Studio City, CA) A girl uses voodoo to get the boy of her dreams.
- The Other Side (Portugal) A boy triumphs over rejection to find a friend who accepts him for who he is.
The Festival features four events over five days. On Tuesday, May 14th, DIYDS!! Jr., co-sponsored by the East End House, will showcase films made by youth ages 6-12, and will be screened at the Kennedy Longfellow Middle School in Cambridge. On Friday, May 17th, filmmakers from around the country will participate in a screening, workshop, and panel discussion at Boston Public Library. Over 300 students and teachers from the Boston area are expected to attend. Later that same day, the festival will host a screening for after-school programs at MIT's Bartos Theater. DIYDS!! concludes on the evening of Saturday May 18th with a ticketed premiere screening of the Festival winners, open to the public. This event will be held at the Microsoft NERD Center, at One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, and will include a moderated discussion with the filmmakers and a Q&A session. It will be followed by a Premiere Party featuring live reggae music, a DJ, dancing, and food.
For more information about the Festival's public events and how you can purchase tickets to the Premiere Screening or Premiere Party, please visit www.diyds.org. For information about becoming a festival sponsor, please see our Sponsorship Opportunity Sheet.
DIYDS!! 2013 will take place at the Microsoft NERD Center, MIT Bartos Theater, and the Boston Public Library with funding from the Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation, Frank Reed and Margaret Jane Peters Memorial Fund, and the Robbins-de Beaumont Foundation.
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