PCI Media Impact Hosts Film Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image to Showcase Student’s Media Projects for Social Change

My School-My Community students to present creative communications campaigns to combat bullying, violence, teenage pregnancy and gossip
May 22, 2013 10:05 AM ET

NEW YORK, May 22, 2013 /3BL Media/ - PCI Media Impact will host a film festival at The Museum of the Moving Image, showcasing the media projects created by New York City public school students on Thursday, May 30, from 10am-1pm.

PCI Media Impact’s year-long My School-My Community program mentors students and teachers in the design and production of communications campaigns that increase positive dialogue related to issues that interfere with learning, such as bullying, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, violence, sub-par facilities and lack of communication in the school community.

PCI Media Impact currently works with 10 public middle and high schools, primarily from the Urban Assembly Network and Internationals Network for Public Schools, serving 4,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds

The My School-My Community program empowers students to tell stories that engage their peers while strengthening their digital production and critical thinking skills.  Whether the course is implemented as a 9-month credit-bearing class during the school day or as an after-school course, lead teachers are trained in PCI Media Impact’s innovative Entertainment-Education methodology.

After discussing and researching a student-selected social issue effecting their learning environment, the class works to create video dramas, talk shows and social marketing campaigns to motivate change in their school communities.

Some of this year’s participants explain…

“With this program we can voice the community, make changes, get other people involved; we can change things that we need to change.”

“There are a lot of issues on the street like homelessness, poverty, gang violence—with My School-My Community, we discuss them and figure out how to make them better in order to make a change in people’s lives.”

“I hope that everyone gets to do this program because it’s a reflective program, at the same time you’re learning how to edit, how to film, but at same time you’re learning a lot about yourself that you didn’t realize.”

“This class is important to me because it helps students to voice their opinions. I was really happy when this class started. It’s very special to me because very few can find this opportunity.”

The festival reception will include red carpet photos and interviews, displays of each school’s projects and students from several of the schools will introduce their video dramas.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation partnered with PCI Media Impact and generously supported the My School-My Community program during the 2012-13 academic school year.

To attend this event, please RSVP here.