We Save 2 Film

WS2F – FALL 2019

The We Save 2 Film workshop is a unique, intersectional curriculum designed to engage middle-school children in a consideration of motion pictures as a science, a tactile art-making enterprise and as an archival medium.  Held on three consecutive Saturdays, the workshop includes lessons on visual literacy and cinematic expression through a variety of hands-on techniques including film projection, direct animation, and non-toxic photochemical processing.  Students meet and learn from a diverse group of film professionals and work collaboratively on 16mm film projects of their own, learning to operate and shoot on Bolex cameras.  On the final Saturday, workshop participants present their 16mm film projects at a community “film festival” and place their film originals with The New York Public Library’s Reserve Film and Video Collection, thereby ensuring that their works are conserved and accessible in perpetuity.  

WS2F – FALL 2019

While we feel it is important to introduce the current generation to film as a physical medium, the Film Advocacy Task Force believes in doing so in a way that is equitable and socially responsible.  We hope that this workshop will inspire young people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds at a critical time in their development to think about careers in film-associated fields which are, at this point, challenged by a lack of diversity and inclusion.  To this end, we strive to employ workshop educators who are women, people of color and who embody or subscribe to non-conforming identities, and these individuals must be comfortable working across gender, race and economic divides.  We welcome the inquisitive child whose intelligence does not fit traditional models for scholastic achievement and recognition, and to ensure their success we provide one adult educator or chaperone for every child.  We are also mindful in choosing materials and vendors that are eco-conscious and employee-friendly.

WS2F – Fall 2019

By blending an integrated lesson plan with the fundamental belief that it is the archivist’s role to offer and bring into our communities context and resources for discovery, we endeavor to instill in our participants a desire to use filmmaking and the historic film record as tools for cognitive exploration and uninhibited self-expression.  By doing so with motion picture film, the archival standard, our filmmakers understand that the product of their workshop journey is not ephemeral but a lasting legacy.  That is why we save to film.

 

WS2F – Fall 2017

 

The Film Advocacy Task Force would like to thank the following institutions, organizations and companies for their continuing support of the We Save 2 Film Workshop: