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http://www.gazette.net/stories/011106/potonew202244_31929.shtml
‘The Blair Witch Project’ co-director discusses filmmaking
At 11, Bethesda resident Blake Weil already knows movies are his passion.
Which is why the young filmmaker was pretty excited last Friday at the prospect of meeting one of his filmmaking gurus, Eduardo Sanchez — co-director and co-writer of the 1997 horror film ‘‘The Blair Witch Project.”
‘‘I’ve been looking forward to that all day,” said Weil, who created the ‘‘comedy and horror” film, ‘‘The Lost City of T-I-C” with friends last summer during a filmmaking class he attended at camp. ‘‘I am an aspiring filmmaker.”
Weil had come to the right place. On Friday, he was among the nearly 150 parents and children that attended the Winter Arts Open House at Imagination Stage — the nonprofit youth art performance center — in Bethesda.
The event was a chance for the 25-year-old center — known best for theater productions that feature its young actors — to showcase its various offerings in drama, dance and filmmaking.
And it was also a chance to highlight the return of local filmmaker, Sanchez — a former Montgomery College student who grew up in Takoma Park.
But the event was also testimony to the kind of access young people have today to resources in areas like art and technology.
‘‘It’s incredibly positive,” said 37-year-old Sanchez, a few minutes before he led a panel discussion on suspense in movies as part of the open house activities. ‘‘When I was 16, I took a filmmaking class. It was very crude technology. Today there’s so much stuff out there — music videos, there’s the Internet. Before, video wasn’t really for the masses.”
Making art accessible to young people has always been one of Imagination Stage’s goals.
More recently, however, with the 2003 addition of a digital media studio, the center has made it a focus to bring cutting edge film technology to its students.
‘‘When we thought about what would be important for children in terms of education for years to come, we realized the new art form is digital,” said Imagination Stage Founder and Executive Director Bonnie Fogel. ‘‘I think that there’s a lot of sophistication in young people in terms of technology. What there isn’t so much that’s available to them is the ability to use technology to be creative...not just [use] something created for them.”
And getting kids to use their creativity, whether expressed through art or technology, is what Imagination Stage is all about, Fogel said.
Sanchez might have been the evening’s biggest draw, but there was also plenty to do for students interested in theater and dancing.
Before the panel discussion, groups of kids rotated every 45 minutes to different rooms in the center to participate in one of four sample classes led by teachers at the center.
‘‘I’ve done the hip-hop and the acting class,” said 13-year-old Bethesda resident Cristina Matamoros, who said she has a background in acting. ‘‘You can tell the teachers here are very good. They know what they’re doing.”
In addition to the hip-hop and acting workshops, interested students could participate in a one-on-one song lesson with a music teacher. Or they could practice their improvisational skills in the teen ‘‘improv” troupe workshop.
Joy Evans of Laurel said she was most excited about the center’s Deaf Access program, which allows deaf students and students of deaf parents the opportunity to perform in sign language.
‘‘[My daughter Brigitta] wants to take the acting classes,” said Evans, who is deaf. ‘‘But it’s a conflict with her gymnastics class. She’s been doing gymnastics since she was 7.”
Evans wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but said she was glad she and her daughter had attended the event.
At last year’s open house, Kensington resident Molly Wilcox was so shy, she had her parents accompany her to the different workshops.
But this year, it’s a different story.
‘‘There’s just something about this place, about the architecture, that’s open,” said Molly’s father Joe Wilcox, adding that this year 11-year-old Molly did all the workshops by herself. ‘‘And she’s come out of herself as a result.”
‘The Blair Witch Project’ co-director discusses filmmaking
At 11, Bethesda resident Blake Weil already knows movies are his passion.
Which is why the young filmmaker was pretty excited last Friday at the prospect of meeting one of his filmmaking gurus, Eduardo Sanchez — co-director and co-writer of the 1997 horror film ‘‘The Blair Witch Project.”
‘‘I’ve been looking forward to that all day,” said Weil, who created the ‘‘comedy and horror” film, ‘‘The Lost City of T-I-C” with friends last summer during a filmmaking class he attended at camp. ‘‘I am an aspiring filmmaker.”
Weil had come to the right place. On Friday, he was among the nearly 150 parents and children that attended the Winter Arts Open House at Imagination Stage — the nonprofit youth art performance center — in Bethesda.
The event was a chance for the 25-year-old center — known best for theater productions that feature its young actors — to showcase its various offerings in drama, dance and filmmaking.
And it was also a chance to highlight the return of local filmmaker, Sanchez — a former Montgomery College student who grew up in Takoma Park.
But the event was also testimony to the kind of access young people have today to resources in areas like art and technology.
‘‘It’s incredibly positive,” said 37-year-old Sanchez, a few minutes before he led a panel discussion on suspense in movies as part of the open house activities. ‘‘When I was 16, I took a filmmaking class. It was very crude technology. Today there’s so much stuff out there — music videos, there’s the Internet. Before, video wasn’t really for the masses.”
Making art accessible to young people has always been one of Imagination Stage’s goals.
More recently, however, with the 2003 addition of a digital media studio, the center has made it a focus to bring cutting edge film technology to its students.
‘‘When we thought about what would be important for children in terms of education for years to come, we realized the new art form is digital,” said Imagination Stage Founder and Executive Director Bonnie Fogel. ‘‘I think that there’s a lot of sophistication in young people in terms of technology. What there isn’t so much that’s available to them is the ability to use technology to be creative...not just [use] something created for them.”
And getting kids to use their creativity, whether expressed through art or technology, is what Imagination Stage is all about, Fogel said.
Sanchez might have been the evening’s biggest draw, but there was also plenty to do for students interested in theater and dancing.
Before the panel discussion, groups of kids rotated every 45 minutes to different rooms in the center to participate in one of four sample classes led by teachers at the center.
‘‘I’ve done the hip-hop and the acting class,” said 13-year-old Bethesda resident Cristina Matamoros, who said she has a background in acting. ‘‘You can tell the teachers here are very good. They know what they’re doing.”
In addition to the hip-hop and acting workshops, interested students could participate in a one-on-one song lesson with a music teacher. Or they could practice their improvisational skills in the teen ‘‘improv” troupe workshop.
Joy Evans of Laurel said she was most excited about the center’s Deaf Access program, which allows deaf students and students of deaf parents the opportunity to perform in sign language.
‘‘[My daughter Brigitta] wants to take the acting classes,” said Evans, who is deaf. ‘‘But it’s a conflict with her gymnastics class. She’s been doing gymnastics since she was 7.”
Evans wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but said she was glad she and her daughter had attended the event.
At last year’s open house, Kensington resident Molly Wilcox was so shy, she had her parents accompany her to the different workshops.
But this year, it’s a different story.
‘‘There’s just something about this place, about the architecture, that’s open,” said Molly’s father Joe Wilcox, adding that this year 11-year-old Molly did all the workshops by herself. ‘‘And she’s come out of herself as a result.”