The NAMAC Conference at Austin
I don’t know if it was the conference, the city or the wonderful people I met, but I left Austin with the intention and hope that one day I would return. The NAMAC Conference was the first I attended in my life. I had no idea what to expect when I left Oakland. Both the conference and the humid heat were all new to me. But besides a few problems here and there, I’m glad the conference went the way it did. I was exposed to wonderful people, the great city of Austin and opportunities like visiting the PBS studios. It was an experience I will always remember and look back to.
One of the greatest things about the conference was the opportunity to meet youth from all over the U.S that love film just as much as I do. We had so much in common despite the fact we all came from different backgrounds. One of the things I enjoyed the most was hearing all the different accents. It’s nice to have conversations with groups of people who respond to you with an accent from Kentucky, Texas, or Baltimore. We grew close during the short period of time we spent together. One of the hardest things was saying goodbye and realizing that we might never see each other again. There was so much talent among the youth that attended, so much passion, enthusiasm and encouragement that it helped me feel great about the direction I am going as a youth filmmaker. Come to think of it I may have already met the future Steven Spielberg or Sofia Coppola.
The NAMAC Youth M.A.F.I.A. was a refreshing experience. We were put in to random groups of four and where given a genre along with a prop and were told to make a 5 minute short in 24 hours. I was surprised to see the quality of work that every film had despite the short time and the little resources we were given to make them. My group had to do a drama that ended up being more of a comedy because our prop was a fly swatter. It was called “Le Fly Swatter” and even though acting was not my thing before coming to the conference, it was definitely my thing during those 24 hours. Staying up all night editing was probably the most fun part. I was surprised that I was able to sit in front of that computer editing all night with only a single cup of coffee. It was the first time I actually had fun pulling an all-nighter.
There were only two things that I wish would have happened at the conference that I’m pretty sure they intended to have but did not work out at the end. We were never able to show the work we had done previously on our own. It would have been great to see the work that youth from different states produce, and the types of issues they confront in making a film. I remember reading about a panel that was supposed to be an opportunity for youth to show their work but it didn’t actually happen. This was an issue talked about in one of the panels, that young filmmakers are not exposed to the work of other youth filmmakers from different parts of the country—it would seem that they would provide that opportunity there. The other thing that I wish the conference would have had is more panels that involved the youth or panels in which the youth were the actual speakers and could address the issues we felt were important in the media. Many times the panels seemed adult-oriented and targeted specifically to people who actually run media and film programs. It was good that they had these types of panels because I did learn from them, but I’m sure more could have been learned had they given the “youth” an opportunity to bring issues to the table.
I will never forget walking down the streets of Austin and hearing bats in the trees.I will never forget the wonderful people I met, the things I learned, and the opportunities I was given. I am glad that I attended the conference even though I came back to find a pile of work waiting for me from the week I missed in school. It was definitely worth it.
