Starting on March 30th, the SIFF will feature more than 90 hand-selected films including independent features, documentaries, world cinema and short films. And speaking of short films, McNeely was most enthused to mention the workshop program SIFF offers to Middle School-age students. This past Feb 18-21 the workshop for Middle School kids was held and McNeely spoke glowingly and graciously about how the program over the years has continued to grow. “It’s been like a miracle,” he said.
One of the reasons why is because both Sonoma County and the School District have budget restraints. They have not been able to offer much in terms of media arts to students. When the SIFF considered what it could to for the community, McNeely and others recognized a need.
“This (youth education program) has been in existence for 15 years and we put this together because we wanted to not only give something back to the community on a continuous basis but we also wanted to reach out to the future.” What amazes McNeely most (and what he considers like a miracle) is how the programs have continued to grow even when funding at times was difficult to obtain.
McNeely said that there have been wonderful (benefactor) “Angels in Sonoma Valley.” Among them Kimberly Hughes, who has been a long-time benefactor and supporter. “Not until just two years ago did the County of Sonoma provide something in their budget to help pay some of the cost. At present the county is paying for some of the salary for (the Sonoma Valley High School media arts program’s instructor-teacher) Peter Hanson.” “It all wouldn’t have happened if it were not for Peter,” he said. “As Peter came up to speed with putting things together for the program, we sought more supporters/benefactors,” said McNeely.
Hansen agreed with McNeely’s explanation of “a miracle.” “If you want to call it that, fate or some grand design in the universe.” Hansen noted that media arts program outreach for both the high school and the middle schools was “built entirely from scratch.”
These programs started out “with just a few cameras, said McNeely and now 15 years later, there are 18 editing suites, a news room for Sonoma Valley High and over 30 HD cameras with 18 Apple iMac desktop computers for editing.” According to McNeely, some of the alumni of the media program at Sonoma High have gone on to prestigious film and art schools. And from there, “one alumni student of our program Mike Abella is at Pixar, McNeely said. And, another alumni of the media arts program is now at Cartoon Network.” Hansen affirmed what McNeely stated and said that the media arts program is there to provide willing and eager students everything they need to succeed in media, be it as a professional career in filmmaking or as a trade, such as a independent graphic arts designer.
This along with simply sharing the joy of film with others is an important return on investment, noted McNeely. With the help of supporters and benefactors, “we have given close to $500,000 (that’s half a million dollars) to support this,” said McNeely.
While the program at the high school is about preparing students for the outside world, the program offered to middle school students seeks to make media arts more accessible to them. The workshop focuses on short films.
“This year we did Public Service Announcements,” said Kimberly Hughes. In addition to being a long-time benefactor of SIFF and its outreach, she is also the producer of the workshops which are held twice a year.
“It was interesting seeing these kids get into PSA’s through various topics,” said Hughes. Like McNeely, she too is enamored with how these outreach programs for youth have flourished. “While we were putting together the media/filmmaking programs at the high school, said Hughes, we realized that kids at the Middle School level should have this opportunity as well. That way, said Hughes they would be better acquainted with it and have some preparation for the program at the high school level.”
Hughes pointed out that while some Middle School-age kids have had no experience at all; “other kids have some experience making video shorts by way of a cell phone or computer and posting them on YouTube.
McNeely remarked about how the students both at the Middle School level and the High School level become engagingly involved in some aspect of film making. “The program at Sonoma Valley High and the two workshops for Middle school kids gives them something to do, filling their free time outside of school and fosters an interest in filmmaking.”
The ever-expanding media and film arts program offered at Sonoma Valley High School along with the Middle School workshops has been a source of amazement and joy for McNeely, Hughes, Hansen and the entire SIFF team and staff.
The important thing to know and understand about “our film festival,” said McNeely is that it is a destination event. It is not a marketing event like Sundance or Cannes.”
“Ours is very much a community event, he said and it is among the top 10 film festivals in the nation. What we do is give back,” said McNeely, so developing the programs to Sonoma High and the Middle schools was the logical choice.” For more information about the upcoming Sonoma International Film Festival in March visit the SIFF web site.
