TEACHED is a series of short films created by Kelly Amis and produced by her company, Loudspeaker Films. TEACHED candidly examines the experiences of youth of color in America, especially African American boys. The TEACHED films have won seventeen international film festival awards and screened at venues including the U.S. Department of Education, SXSW-Edu, Museum of the Moving Image, the Salesforce Foundation, LinkedIn and a wide variety of universities, businesses, faith-based institutions and non-profit organizations. Their short film format is particularly conducive to interactive screening events and bringing diverse audiences together to discuss complex issues. The most recent TEACHED film, Think of Calvin, premiered at The Atlantic's Inaugural Race & Justice Summit, followed by a panel discussion hosted by NPR's Michele Norris (broadcast on C-Span) and a dialogue with the Washington, DC Police Chief. .[1]
| TEACHED | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Kelly Amis |
| Written by | Kelly Amis |
| Produced by | Kelly Amis |
| Edited by | Kate Stilley Steiner Sergei Krasikov Kelly Amis Shaka Jamal |
| Music by | Asparagus Studios Michael Harris |
Production company | Loudspeaker Films |
Release date | variable |
Running time | variable |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Synopsis
Demeaned, suspended, expelled ..."teached." Why are so many students, especially African American boys, not achieving their potential? Why do we still have a race-based "achievement gap" in the U.S.? The TEACHED series reflects creator Kelly Amis' experience as a teacher, education researcher, and policy strategist. The series addresses some of today's most challenging education issues, from the under-education and over-incarceration of minority youth to the structures within the teaching profession that virtually guarantee that certain demographic groups will never have the same opportunities to succeed as their peers.[2][3]
Episodes
| # | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Path to Prison" | 8 minutes | |
The United States now bears the ominous title as the planet's most prolific jailer: with only 5% of the population, it represents a quarter of the world's incarcerated. The vast majority of American inmates are illiterate, and an inordinate number are people of color. One young man's story helps explain how so many capable and intelligent youth, especially African-American males, end up behind bars in "the land of the free." | |||
| 2 | "The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out" | 17 minutes | |
The discourse around education reform – especially on issues involving teachers – lacks nuance, thoughtfulness, and often, commonsense. Simplistic "pro-" and "anti-" teacher rhetoric distracts from the efforts to improve teacher quality, especially in schools serving urban, minority children. What do teachers themselves say about the profession and whether it is serving students' needs... not to mention their own? | |||
| 3 | "Unchartered Territory" | 16 minutes | |
Charter school founders are pioneers of education reform, staking their claim by opening new schools in many historically underserved communities. But twenty years after the first charter school opened its doors, many Americans are still confused about what these independently operated, publicly funded schools are, and why not all of them are performing well. Was the charter formula wrong? What can the best charter school leaders teach the rest? | |||
| 4 | "Code Oakland" | 21 minutes | |
This film examines Oakland's evolution through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley spreads into the home of the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first activism was a hunger strike at age eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are preparing youth to redesign the future through the power of coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement to change both the face and future of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked? | |||
| 4 | "Code Oakland" | 21 minutes | |
This film examines Oakland's evolution through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley spreads into the home of the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first activism was a hunger strike at age eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are preparing youth to redesign the future through the power of coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement to change both the face and future of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked? | |||
| 5 | "Think of Calvin" | 20 minutes | |
On a Friday night after a long week at work, Calvin joined his family in Washington, DC for an informal gathering. Still wearing scrubs from his job at Children’s National Medical Center, he caught up with an old friend while his two boys rode bikes around the block. When police followed his fifteen year-old home, pulling on gloves as they approached him, Calvin intervened to ask “Why? What did he do?” How these questions escalated into a night in jail for him will make you “Think of Calvin” next time you question racial profiling or how America has become the world’s most prolific jailer. | |||
Cast and crew
- Kelly Amis - Producer, Director & Editor
- Sergei Krasikov - Cinematographer, Editor
- Art Meyerhoff - Cinematographer
- Shaka Jamal - Cinematographer, Editor
- Vincent Cortez - Cinematographer
- Natacha Giler - Cinematographer
- Kate Stilley Steiner - Editor
- Sean Kimber - Graphics
- Asparagus Studios - Music
- Michael Harris - Music
- Kev Choice - Music
- Gwendolyn Barriac - Music
- Phillip Ebeid - Cinematographer
- Christina Voros - Cinematographer
- Ana-Lena Isaksson - Cinematographer
- Justin Ammon - Cinematographer
- Andrew Blum - Cinematographer
- Cyrus Dowlatshahi - Cinematographer
- Ri Crawford - Title Sequence
Production
TEACHED is the signature project of Loudspeaker Films, an independent media company founded by Kelly Amis in 2010. It was originally conceived as a feature-length documentary but evolved into a short film series during production. The TEACHED series was sponsored by the International Documentary Association and funded by charitable contributions. In 2013, Amis won the Teach for America Social Innovation Award, which provided an additional $50,000 to the project.[4] The TEACHED series is complemented by an online interview series, On the Loudspeaker, which features national figures such as John Legend, Van Jones, Wendy Kopp and Deray McKesson discussing the issues examined in the films.
Awards and screenings
THINK OF CALVINWINNER- Best Short Documentary, Napa Valley Film Festival WINNER- Best Documentary, Uptown Short Film FestivalOfficial Selection- Vail Film FestivalOfficial Selection- Oakland International Film FestivalOfficial Selection- Indianapolis Black Expo Film FestivalOfficial Selection- Dingle International Film FestivalOfficial Selection- Williamsburg Film FestivalFeatured at The Atlantic's Race & Justice Summit
CODE OAKLANDWINNER - Best Short Documentary, Harlem International Film FestivalWINNER - Best Documentary, Humboldt Film FestivalWINNER - Best Film, Fulbright Association Film FestivalWINNER - Award of Merit, Los Angeles Independent Film FestivalWINNER - Aloha Award, Honolulu Film FestivalWINNER - Audience Award, (In)Justice for All Film FestivalWINNER - Social Impact Award, (In)Justice for All Film FestivalWINNER - Bronze, Social & Economic Issues, Houston World FestWINNER - Honorable Mention, Napa Valley Film FestivalWINNER - Rising Star Award for Director Kelly Amis, Canada Film FestivalOfficial Selection - St. Louis International Film Festival Official Selection - Sacramento Film Festival Official Selection - San Francisco Black Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Milan International Film FestOfficial Selection - Heartland International Film FestOfficial Selection - Breckenridge Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Joshua Tree Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Boise Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Manchester International Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Little Rock Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Julien Dubuque International Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Madrid International Film Festival
TEACHED VOL. I (THE PATH TO PRISON, UNCHARTERED TERRITORY, and THE BLAME GAME)WINNER - Best Short Documentary, Williamsburg Film FestivalWINNER - Spirit of Independence Jury Prize: Amsterdam Film FestivalOfficial Selection - SXSWeduOfficial Selection - Colorado Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Napa Valley Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Harlem International Film FestivalOfficial Selection - SouthSide Film FestivalOfficial Selection - deadCenter Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Sonoma International Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Miami Short Film FestivalOfficial Selection - London Lift-Off Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Taos Shorts Film FestivalOfficial Selection - New Hampshire Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Big Easy International Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Albany Film FestivalOfficial Selection - Los Angeles Independent Film Festival
References
External links
8 [1]
