The Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education

Website

http://www.marypickford.com/

How is your organization creatively moving LA forward?

The Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education’s Mobile Film Classroom is a production studio-on-wheels that travels throughout Los Angeles County to bring digital media instruction to underserved youth who don’t have access to technology at their school or home. Our programs provide a bridge from early cinema to modern filmmaking using 21st digital media tools. “We were pioneers in a new medium,” Mary Pickford observed when 100 years ago another technology transformed our world. Today’s youth are also pioneers. Our curriculum incorporates film history into 21st Century digital media storytelling to allow students a way to creatively express themselves while giving voice to issues in their community. In-school, after-school, PD workshops.

Why does your organization need this fundraiser event?

MPI’s Mobile Film Classroom is needed more than ever to keep disenfranchised students from being left even further behind in the digital divide due to the deep budget cuts at our schools, but we recently lost funding from The Mary Pickford Foundation. We believe being literate in film history, knowing how to navigate, use and critique digital media defines what it means to be literate in the 21st Century. We need donations to keep reaching out to our youth and to expand throughout the state.

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