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Fourth Annual Festival

07:37 min
Youth Documentary
Director: Dana Hall, Ashley Potter and Mary Profitt
Producer: Appalshop's Appalachian Media Institute

Winner of the Youth Documentary Award
Sponsored by Time Warner Foundation

FILMMAKER BIOS

Dana Hall, Co-Director

Dana is in her second year at Southeast Community College. She is 19 years old and lives in Little Cowan, KY. Although Dana doesn’t know yet what she wants to major in, she is looking into going to school to study photography.

Ashley Potter, Co-Director

Ashley, of Whitesburg, KY, is 18 and in her first year at Morehead University. Ashley will study music education at college, with plans to eventually become a music teacher.

Mary Profitt, Co-Director

Mary is 18 and lives in Isom, KY. She is attending Southeast Community College before transferring to Eastern Kentucky University next year. Mary plans to pursue a career in accounting. At the Appalachian Media Institute, Mary has found a new appreciation for her community and their traditions.

Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute, Producer

Appalshop is a community-based, media arts and education center located in the coalfields of Central Appalachia. At the heart of Appalshop’s work is the principle that people have the right to control the development of their own communities through active participation in public dialogue. Appalshop artists and media makers produce a variety of collaborative, community-invested projects including: documentary films and videos, a traditional music recording label, a touring theater company, a volunteer-powered community radio station, a national and local festival project, community media work with grassroots groups and a youth media training project.

In 1988 Appalshop initiated the Appalachian Media Institute in response to the growing economic and social crises facing young people and their communities in Central Appalachia. Through an intensive summer documentary institute, workshops in area schools and a new after school media program, AMI encourages young people to use audio, video and new media production and distribution tools to explore critical issues about themselves and their Eastern Kentucky communities.

AMI’s mission is to build the confidence and creative capacity of youth through technical and leadership training with professional artists and media makers; encourage youth to see the arts as a viable vehicle for initiating positive change in their communities and beyond; increase our youths’ educational performance and post secondary attendance; and create opportunities for intergenerational dialogue through the production and distribution of youth-produced media. They strive to help young people see that, rather than leave the region, they can play a vital role in the future of their communities. http://www.appalshop.org.