GlobalGiving.org: At-Risk Youth Turn Apathy To Activism With Video

Hip-Hop2Hollywood with 5th Graders is awesome!

Sanaa Msemaji — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:19:24 GMT

Amber is always ready!

Happy New Year 2012!

Whew! 2011 was super fun with a new crop of eager kids. This was the first time the H2H program had been taught with the lower grades. And boy was this group of 5th graders up for the task! These kids were awesome, focused, smart, and ready to go. Below I am sharing just a few of snapshots from our semester together but by Jan 13th you can visit the H2H website at http://www.hiphop2hollywood.org to see their individual profiles and more pics. The edited version of their video project is soon coming. We'll send another update when it's ready for viewing.

Thank you all for supporting this project and I wish you all a beautiful new year filled with reachable goals and great energy.

Reaching for the DREAM!

Sanaa

Elijah love directing

Jaden's adorable smile

Kayla on boom mic with Wally

The kids and me

Brianna makes it happen

Hip-Hop 2 Hollywood Film Festival coming 2012!

Sanaa Msemaji — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:21:05 GMT

H2H Film Festival

Happy Early Summer!

A couple things happening.

1.) We are really happy to announce that the long standing Reel Sisters Of The Diaspora Film Festival will be partnering with MilagroGrande Films to bring the first ever H2H Youth Film Festival. A festival dedicated to showcasing the vision and voice of today's youth. We are really excited to see their insights, their views, their solutions to some of today's social issues. More info coming.

2.) We are in talks with a Brooklyn Parks Commissioner to possibly partner with him on his anti-litter campaign. We'll keep you posted.

We recently did another website overhaul. Please check out the new H2H website. We really love this updated rendition, it's pretty awesome.

Links:

Program is on for 2011!

Sanaa Msemaji — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:38:07 GMT

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!

Hip Hop 2 Hollywood is off to a great start!

We just got word that we received a partial grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affair through the Brooklyn Arts Council regrant program.

What that means is we will be able to go into another school for this spring semester 2011! We are in the process of identifying the lucky school and will keep you posted.

WHAT'S NEW? Our project page! Due to various technological advances (software, equipment) we have been to dramatically reduce the cost of our program making it more accessible to more schools. As a result our donation amounts have changed, in short, your dollar will go farther --so please check our new donation amounts and make a donation.

WHAT'S COMING UP? The Hip Hop 2 Hollywood 2010 Video compilation. Soon, you will be able to purchase the 5 student-made films from the 2010 program altogether in one dvd package for the nominal price of $21.95. If you are an instructor teaching your students about: Bullying, Littering, Animal Abuse, Being Bi-racial or Growing up Muslim then this is the dvd compilation for you. The videos range between 10-14 mins, long perfect for in-class discussions on these social-justice topics.

We are also branching out into the world of video curriculum. So many schools love, want and need a program like ours in their school but just can't afford it because of increasing budget cuts. To meet this demographic, MilagroGrande Films will produce a video curriculum of the Hip Hop 2 Hollywood program that schools can purchase and have their own instructors teach. Look for that by mid June.

That's it for now, below are pictures from the Reel Sister's Film festival back in October.

H2H Youth Films to premiere at Reel Sisters Film Festival!

Sanaa Msemaji — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:49:18 GMT

Nina's Film

Hi Everyone,

I am so happy to report that the first round of Hip-Hop 2 Hollywood kids will have their films premiere during the annual Reel Sisters Film Festival at the Kumble Theatre (LIU Campus) in Brooklyn, NY Oct 16 & 17th 2010!!!!

They worked really hard on their projects and it will be so great to watch them shine for the general public.

In addition to having their films screen (on both days) the kids have been asked to co-host the youth section of the festival. This means that aside from discussing their films, they will also introduce the other youth-made films, facilitating the question & answers, youth filmmaker panels, interact with the audience etc. --So GREAT!

If you are in New York, please come out and support the girls and spread the word.

The 2010 schedule isn't up on the Reel Sister's website yet but feel free to check back in a few weeks. You'll be able to read more about the kids films at that time.

Have a great day and thank you for being an important part of making this happen with your generous donations.

In gratitude, Sanaa

Aurora's Film

Nicole's Film

Bella's Film

Raneem's Film

Links:

Check here the 2010 festival schedule

Editing, editing, editing!

Sanaa Msemaji — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:03:36 GMT

Girshel Filming at the NYC Dept. Of Health

We are knee deep in editing the kids five films. The kids have been really focused and committed to the success of the work. In a few weeks, we will have a film festival at their school to showcase their work. They are both excited and nervous to sit on a panel after their screening and talk to their peers about why they chose the topics they did and what they have learned about throughout their experience.

We recently talked about how they feel after a year of learning film basics and about social-justice. They felt many things but the one constant was they all felt a sense of accomplishment. They all recognized that while filmmaking is fun, it's also hard work, and have expressed that now that they have been through this program, they don't feel like there is something they can't do.

The kids have also been asked to Co-MC the youth section of the Reel Sisters Film festival this fall.

I have added a link below to our:

- Facebook Fanpage - please sign up to receive info on the films and screenings. - Youtube page - so you can see the latest H2H film, made by the ids to express there experience. (they made up the rap and everything)

I have also added some more pictures of the kids in action.

Nina filming in the rain!

Interview for the film, Goliath

Kids interviewing kids

Nicole doing "man on the street" interviews

Raneem interviewing other Muslim kids

Links:

New Web Presence

Sanaa Msemaji — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:27:30 GMT

MilagroGrande Films

Happy New Year All!

I trust you are all well and ready to do great things in 2010. I wanted to send a quick word out about our new web presence. I am happy to announce that I have redesigned the MGF website (a feat, as I didn't know not ONE thing about CSS/PHP code before I started!)

In addition to the face lift, MilagroGrande Films also received new a new domain ending. It is now .org instead of .com

In addition, I thought it would be more user friendly for the Hip-Hop2Hollywood project to have it's own space on the web. You can now see the H2H kids for yourself, as they progress through the program via their filmmaker profiles, youth blogs, and videos. I know you will enjoy keeping up with them.

On both sites you can sign up for eNews updates via email.

On H2H you can follow us on twitter and/or join our facebook page.

Because the H2H site is a little wider it is best viewed in the Safari or Firefox browsers if you have the option.

Enjoy the sites, feel free to leave comments wherever you can. I'm sure the kids would love to hear your support. More videos are coming within the next few weeks.

Have a fantastic weekend! Sanaa

Hip-Hop2Hollywood

Links:

Flip Video Spotlight!

Sanaa Msemaji — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:27:59 GMT

Flip Video banner

Greetings All!

I just found out today that MilagroGrande Films has been selected to participate in the Flip Video Spotlight: Share the story, change the world program...

I am just so excited! What this means is, we get a password entrance into a special online store and for every Flip Video camera we buy, they match us one for free...cutting our video camera cost in half for the Hip-Hop 2 Hollywood program!

For a while now I had been considering the Flip because of it's relative inexpensive cost (and the fact that if a kid accidentally breaks one, it wouldn't be like, damn) --it also affords the kids much more freedom that we can't allow with a more expensive camera.

This also means that our videos will be posted on the Flip Video Spotlight channel which is great for the kids!

This is truly fantastic news and I just wanted to share with you all. Thank you again for sweet, generous, offerings!

And please, tell EVERYONE you know that might be looking for a worthy project, we are still fundraising!

In Love, Light, Solidarity, & Solution! Sanaa

Flip Video picture