2010 Film & Video Production Workshop

The Perfect Workshop at a Perfect Time

Asian American producer discovers a community of progressive filmmakers of color at TWN’s Film & Video Production Workshop.

After graduating from college, Philippine independent filmmaker Corinne Manabat worked for a talk show, then an online advertising company and in her spare time did freelance production work.   "Around the time I applied for the workshop I was a freelance production assistant and realized I was disposable." says Corinne.  She wanted to work in production and learn but wanted to do it part-time.  She applied to Third World Newsreel's Film & Video Production Workshop. 

The Production Workshop emphasizes on the training and support of people of color who have limited resources and access to mainstream educational institutions and traditional training programs within the film/video industry.

Corinne learned about TWN's Production Workshop through one of its former students.  "My cousin who's an actor and who took the production workshop a couple of years before me was like; "This would be a great thing for you.  If you apply for it you get to do production work on your own project with a group of people." So I was like; "it's better than not doing any production work at all." 

Corinne was accepted in the Production Workshop and immediately started working on her project.  The curriculum of this intensive 6 month program focuses on the pre-production, production and post production skills necessary to take a short project from conception to completion.  "It was a big turning point." says Corinne.  "I needed that bigger boost and Third World Newsreel helped me in that sense.  I was looking for a community within the industry and I felt like this was the place to find it."  While working in the industry she did not run into a lot of people of color and the few that she met were not progressive thinkers.  "That was even harder to find in this business.  This was also during a time when I was organizing and doing a lot of political work amongst the Philippino community in NYC." 

During the workshop Corinne produced Excuse My Gangsta Ways which has been screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and in film festivals in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Washington, DC.  This short documentary on Davina Wan, a Chinese American woman, who was a former gang member from the Lower East Side has become a very popular film in the Asian film festival community. Hyphen Magazine Blog called it' "One of the best short films. Definitely worth watching."

Herman Lew, the Workshop Director, is the main instructor of the workshop.  "I learned a lot from him.” Says Corinne; “You were so confident about your idea and in 5 seconds Herman would pose questions and taught you how to think outside of the box. He was really good at showing, in a simplified way, how to do editing and camera work.  He was genuinely invested in your projects. It was cool to see a person of color in the business, sharing the technique."   

Cinematographer Herman Lew is the Director of the B.F.A. Film & Video Program at the City College of New York.  When reviewing the applications, Herman looks for realists and
dreamers who have a desire to create socially progressive media.  Herman says; “Product is important and vital, but it’s the process that students go through in the workshop that is even more valuable.”  According to Herman technology and hardware available in production and post-production has changed but the eyes, heart and soul of a story, its purpose, doesn’t change regardless of how it is recorded or edited.

One of the aspects Corinne appreciated the most about the workshop was the access she had to equipment and fellow filmmakers.  Her advice to new students is to take advantage of this access.  “Don’t sit back and relax.  You were good enough to be a part of the workshop now you got to do the work.”  Many former workshop participants work in film, video and the media arts, including Academy Award nominee ReneeTajima Peña and Jamal Joseph.

  
The Production Workshop begins in early February and meets every Thursday at 6:30 pm in the offices of TWN. The workshop is time intensive and participants must be able to attend regular class meetings as well as meet the out-of-class demands of pre- production, production, and post-production.  The selection to the Production Workshop is limited to 9 participants. An initial written application is required and a second round of applicants are selected for interviews. The cost of the 2009 workshop will be $600.  For more information please visit www.twn.org.