00:00We currently run six education programs here at the Documentary Center. We work
00:16with young people ages seven and up.
00:24The goal is really to use documentary filmmaking to build community, inspire
00:29new voices, inspire untold stories.
00:37We have this saying, if you don't learn to tell your own story, someone else is going to tell it for you.
00:47The Documentary Center was started in 2005 by the legendary documentarian Albert
00:53Maisels and his family. They chose to build the center here in Harlem because there wasn't
00:59honestly a film center, a documentary center.
01:02Harlem is a really vibrant community. Everybody knows that.
01:05It's historically and contemporarily, you know, always cutting edge and an epicenter for cultural programs
01:13and storytellers and urban griots to like come together and speak truth.
01:18Our model is for the young people to be as hands on as possible.
01:24So they are allowed to check out the equipment.
01:27We are encouraging them to go around, explore Harlem, explore their neighborhoods.
01:33And a big thing we talk about is access. And what is the access these young people have?
01:37And oftentimes that's into their own lives and their own stories and their own communities
01:42and people who they care about who are often misrepresented in society and in the media.
01:51If you look at the programs that are available to young people across the city,
01:54I think there's been a big cut to a lot of like community spaces.
02:00You know, NYCHA public housing has like closed down a lot of their community centers.
02:04We try to reach young people who don't have like, you know, access necessarily to these types of things.
02:14Films are little worlds into themselves, but then they generate so many questions around other possibilities.
02:21And having a space where filmmakers can both show their work and engage with audiences,
02:30but then also nurture new filmmakers. That's so important.
02:37We're not made of atoms. We're made of stories.
02:40I forget who said that, but it's like a quote that I always remember.
02:44I believe that.
02:46I believe that.
03:02Transcription by CastingWords
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