Youth Beat is training the filmmakers of the future we have a really robust education
programs in film and animation serving 400 plus students every year and they're learning how to
go out and be a media entrepreneur. Camera skills editing lighting sound all these things that a
lot of people go off and pay tens of thousands of dollars to get at a film school or master's degree
we're trying to create that for Oakland youth here in their hometown in their public schools
something they can turn into a career something that can actually drive their path and their story forward
vertigo shot I kid you not was the hardest thing to get out of everything
there's always this dominant narrative that comes out of Oakland it's a one-sided story it's the
violence it's the sensationalized oh no there's a problem and a lot of our students are aware
of that and want to challenge that I had some idea though that that i really wanted to be a filmmaker
but no I just thought that it was just going to be in my dreams I just thought it was going to
be in my dreams. I'm just so proud of Onivid having her come in as a high school student who had only
been in the country for less than a year who's English I know she's very self-conscious about her
English and her accent and everything and coming in into this environment where she's made all
these friends made all these connections to her now she has this community this creative community in Oakland.
I feel like i'm my truest self when I'm creating I have less worries about the world and
stuff like that I just like started to worry most about the film and stuff like that like a 24 7
and it's just like the film the film the film. I think that having so many different perspectives
and identities in our classroom setting first of all it opens up our students worlds just in
general just having to interact with different people and you really see that too when you look
at the demographics of our classrooms it's always black brown queer trans latinx like all types
of different marginalized identities and people from our students and our staff and those are the
folks that don't always get the opportunities. There is no reason why these kids coming from
East Oakland or West Oakland can't be the future directors the future creatives the future ad
agency producers that are making the media that we're all going to be consuming moving forward
Danielle for instance started out as a student she became an intern for multiple years and then
came on board as a teaching assistant where for years now she's been helping students who were in
her chair when she was a high school junior now they can look at someone like Danielle and say
oh Danielle was sitting right here in this class and now four years later she's got a job and she's
a successful filmmaker maybe I can do that. I started off as a 16 year old kid that was just
kind of trying to have fun and now i'm a 24 year old with a career and responsibilities and a plan
and I don't know how that happened but I'm really glad that it did I mean they gave me a career you
know they literally handed me a career on a silver platter
and said you know take this if you want it uh and I took it
I think Youth Beat impacted my life in a way that made me feel more confident
it made me feel more assured with what I do like of my work so it was really amazing
so many of these young people have faced such tremendous challenges in their lives overcoming
just to get to the graduation line in high school and so to know that they have a community that's
got their back that is helping them in their future whatever they choose to do is huge
I just love seeing them go from little high schooler to like full-fledged adults being
able to see their finished films and just the look of pride that they have the community aspect
there's just so many things so many things I love about being a mentor
I couldn't be prouder of these students
and it's so gratifying seeing them go from a kid who didn't think they could do much
to a young adult that knows that they can reach for the stars