Downtown Film Students to See Their Work—and Struggles—Aired on TV

Student filmmakers talk about their work, and their lives, at the kickoff of DCTV's "Our Cameras, Our Stories," a series that is being broadcast on Channel 13. Photo: Courtesy of DCTV

New York City was struck with a blackout in July 1978 when DCTV, a  media arts center, launched its youth filmmaking training program, PRO-TV. “We didn’t expect the kids to show up, but they did,” DCTV co-founder Keiko Tsuno told a packed auditorium last week in DCTV’s home, a converted landmark firehouse on Lafayette Street. “We sent them out with cameras that day and they documented people’s stories.”

Thirty seven years later the free media arts training program is still going strong. Armed with video equipment and a passion for storytelling, the students of DCTV continue to shoot and edit their own films, creating intimate snapshots of their personal struggles.

This time, though, it’s going live.

“Our Cameras, Our Stories,” is a six-part series that brings to life the young filmmakers’ encounters with homelessness, mental illness, gun violence, teen pregnancy and more. It premiered on  Oct. 4 on Channel 13 and will showcase twenty-one films. 

“We cried through every screening,” DCTV co-founder Jon Alpert said as the lights were about to dim on the first screening. “And I’m sure we’re going to cry again.”

It was a fitting sentiment and a fair warning as the night kicked off with Jasmine Barclay’s film, “When Life Hand You Lemons,” a look at the 17-year-old’s daily struggle with homelessness.

“Seems like every time I turn around I’m packing my bags,” said Barclay, whose father is incarcerated and mother was mostly absent. “But no one is ever there to help me pack.” Later, during a Q&A, Barclay described herself as “one of the lucky ones.” Now a college student going for a bachelors degree in social work, she hopes to help other youth living with incarcerated parents. But film is never far from her mind. Barclays will head to the White House on Oct. 8 to screen her film, where she will be honored with a  “Champions of Change” award.

The audience also met Natalie Setoute, who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and, at the time of filming, was dealing with a string of rejections from film schools. In her documentary ,“The Skin I’m In,” the high school student carries her camera like a pocket diary, at one point staring fiercely into the lens and declaring: “I am self-loathing.” Setoute was late to the evening’s Q&A because she had just finished her first day as a post-production assistant with HBO. She quietly joined her fellow filmmakers and received an ovation when her film was acknowledged.

Richard Memminger, a PRO-TV graduate, noted that “Our Cameras, Our Stories” allowed the students to use a medium besides youtube to showcase their films to a larger audience. “We forget that there are traditional methods of screening our work,” he said.

Asked if they had a message for today’s youth, each filmmaker answered in earnest.

“If I can do it, you can do it.” said Memminger, whose film “Dependent” deals with losing his mother to cancer and his family’s struggle with drug addiction.

Barclay agreed. “No matter what you’re going through try to push through it and don’t become a statistic,” she said, and then laughed. “Or just join DCTV.”

For more information on the films and a schedule of screenings, click here.