What is the Young Critics Jury?

It's a crash course in how to watch, critique and understand techniques of moviemaking from Hollywood feature length films to the shortest student work.

The California Film Institute will hold its sixth annual Young Critics Jury for young adults (ages 13-18) July 8-10, 2008. This three-day intensive course can prepare teens for a career or it can be used as a unique exercise in critical thinking. Film professionals from many fields including production, animation, film criticism, screenwriting, special effects, stunts, film programming, art design, cinematography, and acting, will spend time and speak with course participants about the craft of filmmaking in an intimate seminar atmosphere at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.

The week after the three-day intensive course, 7 graduates (chosen during the course) will judge and curate the entries for the 2008 Mill Valley Film Festival's annual program of international youth-produced films. In 2007 we had 128 youth films submitted from the US, Croatia, Bulgaria, Mexico and Germany.

Just some of the speakers/mentors at Young Critics Juries past: Andrew Stanton, Pixar's Academy Award-winning director/writer; Academy Award-nominated documentary director Bill Jersey; Craig Barron, film historian and visual effects supervisor from Matte World); Eddie Muller, film noir historian and author; Hiro Narita, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning cinematographer; veteran location scout Rory Enke; Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning director John Korty; stuntwoman Jean Mahlani; silent film music composer Bruce Loeb; author and critics Judy Stone and Michael Fox; avant-garde filmmaker and master archivist Craig Baldwin; Sundance Film Festival award winning writer/director Finn Taylor; Academy Award-winning director/writer Jeff Brown; Sundance Grand Winner and Academy Award nominee filmmaker Connie Field; Award winning sound and picture editors Dennnie Thorpe and Vivien Hllgrove.

APPLY NOW-CLASSES START IN JULY!
There are full scholarships available, based on need. Please contact us to find out if you qualify for a scholarship.

If you would like to participate in this year's Young Critics Jury, please contact CFI Education Manager, John Morrison, at 415.383.5256, x113, or via email at jmorrison@cafilm.org

Download the Young Critic's Jury Application 2008 PDF Form <here>

CFI Education is made possible in part by the generous support of:
The Marin Community Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The Bernard Osher Foundation
Miranda Lux
The LEF Foundation
The San Francisco Foundation

For more information contact:

CFI Outreach and Education Manager -
John Morrison

Email: outreach@cafilm.org

Phone: 415 383 5256 x113

"Over the years, I have attended three CFI Outreach screenings that have been transcendent experiences and that I know for a fact have changed the lives of some of my students."
- Chuck Ford, Marin County Educator

"A major learning resource in our county... [The screenings] enrich us all, and allow balanced worldviews, filled with empathy, to develop in our students."
- Drake High School teachers

"Students are exposed to difficult themes and exceptional but seldom seen films. Thank you for enriching our curriculum through film."
- AIM Teachers, Tamalpais High School

"Being a part of A Place in the World has forced my students to look at how they are personally affected by broad societal issues such as friends' deaths, parental abandonment, poverty, racism, and education... They have empathized, become angered and saddened by the violence and inequity in societies worldwide. They have begun to face their personal realities and those of others."
- Kathleen Jackson, Oasis High School, Oakland

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