Educate & empower youth's voice through film

Dear ICiT Partners, 

This past year was an incredible roller coaster for our ICiT youth. As you know, we finished both of our youth’s films, Upside of Down, and Love is Alive. For Jaida and Jessica, this was a life changing experience. They were given a chance to have their voice heard. They had something to say. And people listened. 

Now it is time to move into the next season. 

Our mission has been to educate and empower youth through storytelling and bring their original and compelling stories to the community through world class cinema, produced by the finest filmmakers. Each component of this journey is vital. The camp, where youth learn how to write and create; production, where they see what goes into bringing their script to life; and exhibition, where they and their story are celebrated. When you think about it, this is pretty cool. A chance to create, see what you create get produced at a high level, and then experienced it on the local and international stage. Its not hard to see how this can have a great impact on someone’s life. Especially a 12, 14 or 16 year old. 

Moving forward though, we are trying to find a way to make this endeavor sustainable. One of the things that we have done, due to the way that the project is structured, is make the program biyearly. So we have taken this year off from programming and are looking to next year to welcome a new class of bright young minds. 

We thank you for your generous support this past year. You have allowed something very special to take place. Our hope is that you stay with us as we move forward and get to experience a whole new group of lives transformed. Think of someone like Jessica. When she came to camp, she was a little uneasy in her own shoes, and unsure of what she had to say. By the end, when she was on stage in front of 400 people, introducing her film, she was confident, bold and fully sure of her voice, knowing that people could and would listen. We can do that again. And again and again. One life and voice at a time. 

If you haven't had a chance to watch the films, please do so HERE. And please share it with your families, friends and networks. These were made because of you. We hope you take pride in what you have allowed to get made. Tell us what you think about the films. Tell us what you think of what we are doing. We want your feedback. We really do. 

Boldly going into a bright future, 

David and the ICiT Team