Building the Next Generation of Filmmakers and Audiences

Film engages and inspires like no other medium. For two decades the Mill Valley Film Festival and CFI Education have pioneered creative film programs for Bay Area young people, providing year-round screenings, interactive sessions with film professionals and hands-on activities to introduce students to the power of film as a vibrant tool of communication. CFI relies on the generosity of its community to thrive. Your support enables CFI to continue offering the quality programming and events you love. You can provide financial support by becoming a member, making a donation, or becoming a corporate or foundation sponsor. There are also many exciting volunteer opportunities available to help CFI. Be a Supporter! We’re Not Just at the Festival In addition to our activities at the Festival, CFI Education presents programs at the beautiful Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in Marin, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and other Bay Area theaters. We also come directly to schools with our interdisciplinary, intercultural film-study programs that are designed to supplement the fields of literature, history, science and social studies. To add depth to the viewing experience, we've created companion study guides for films, which are geared to conform to California educational standards.

Some of our current programs:

In-School Filmmaker Program during the Mill Valley Film Festival Each year three interns will work with the CFI Education director to bring filmmakers and their films from the Mill Valley Film Festival into Bay Area schools. In mid-August we sign up schools and teachers, and in September match up filmmakers with schools for an exciting classroom exchange between students and filmmakers. It’s easy for teachers to sign up by calling or emailing CFI Education. See our contact information below.

Selected Screenings for Schools Throughout the year we provide schools with free monthly screenings of important films. In addition, every year we select six to eight feature films from the more than two hundred films in the Festival and screen them for schools for free during Festival time. Most of these screenings occur during the school day at the Smith Rafael Film Center; others are held at theaters in the East Bay and San Francisco. After each screening, question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers challenge students to think their way through the films and to consider what goes on both behind and in front of the camera.

Young Critics Jury Held every July, the Young Critics Jury is a three-day intensive workshop for youths aged 13–18 to learn media literacy skills directly from filmmakers and film historians. Directors, screenwriters, location scouts, actors, animators, critics, documentary filmmakers, cinematographers and others make this event an exceptional educational experience. Six students are chosen from the workshop to spend the following week as jurors and curators of the Mill Valley Film Festival Youth Reel. Applications for this program are available on our Web site.

A Place in the World This six-film curriculum is a school-year-long study of youth from youth’s point of view. Teachers enroll groups of students who commit to viewing and examining the content of a selection of international films focusing on defining moments in young people’s lives. The films explore topics such as school, death, war, sexuality, religion, racism and family, and they are supplemented by speakers, study guides and other tools that explain the films and amplify their themes. Now in its third year, this program has received rave reviews from teachers and students alike.

My Place Our new My Place program combines hands-on filmmaking with storytelling skills. Local directors, location scouts and the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley help students learn to see where they live through different eyes—like a director. In our initial program in April of this year, eight youths from Marin City and the Canal district of San Rafael each made a film about their places in their communities. In August we worked in the Mission and Hunter’s Point in San Francisco. Part of My Place’s function is to help deepen alliances among the various community and social services that come together to assist us in locating student participants. The My Place program is generously funded by the Marin Community Foundation, Miranda Lux Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation.

Teaching Media Literacy in the Classroom Another new project involves teacher workshops on using film in the classroom, using innovative techniques to widen the uses teachers can make of the film medium. We launched the workshops in March of 2007, and our first session included 49 English teachers from the Tamalpais School District. Other programs underway include media literacy workshops and screenings and a summer 2008 Young Critics program, all directed to students in grades 2–5.

Additional Education Programs during the Festival
College Day gives Bay Area college students an opportunity to see selected Festival films at a discounted price. For more information, call 415-526-5826. Also, in partnership with San Francisco State University’s film department, we offer a weekend course at the SFSU campus featuring Festival films and speakers. Credit is available through SFSU.

CFI Education serves more than 4,000 students every year. Join us and help us grow!

Call, email or visit us online:
phone: 415.383.5256 x113
email: jmorrison@cafilm.org
online: cafilm.org