ANNOUNCING OUR 2016 NEXT DOC YOUTH FILMMAKERS!
Next Doc is a collaboration between Youth FX and the Carey Institute for Global Good that will bring together a diverse group of talented youth documentary filmmakers from across the country with award-winning documentarians to learn, share, build connections and take their skills and ideas to the next level! We are proud and excited to announce the 14 emerging young filmmakers from across the country who have been selected to participate in this four day workshop May 12th-15th.
2016 NEXT DOC YOUTH FILMMAKER BIOS
Chelsea Maddred
Chelsea Maddred, a senior at Moorestown Friends School, screened her first short documentary, Seams of Society, in November 2015 as a part of Scribe Video Center's Documentary History Project for Youth. Outside of filmmaking, she enjoys eating ice-cream and working on developing her blog, bloomsista.com. Her goal for film is to combine activism and artistry to educate and empower others.
Edwin Cruz
Edwin Cruz was born in San Diego, California and raised in Acapulco, Mexico for several years before returning to the United States. While in Mexico he participated in several public speaking activities including debate, poetry, and acting. In pursuit of bringing awareness of contemporary social issues he engaged in filmmaking. Cruz is a recipient of the UCSD McNair Research program and has been developing a documentary film and research report on the subject of Redevelopment, Gentrification and Homelessness in East Village downtown San Diego in southern California.
Crystal Kayiza
Crystal Kayiza graduated from Ithaca College in 2015 with a degree in Documentary Studies and Production with minors in African Diaspora and Women and Gender Studies. Her most recent documentary film is called Why We Stay, which focuses on the current wave of gentrification in the South Bronx. Previously, Crystal was an Editorial Intern for The Nation Magazine and a Summer Academy Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. She is currently a Legal Assistant with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. You follow Crystal’s writings on Medium:
KeVonté L. Anderson
KeVonté L. Anderson, Senior at Bowdoin College. Afreekana Studies Major, English Minor with independent focus of Spirituality and Filmmaking. While originally from Sirius, Nashville is my Earthly home. Poet, Rapper and Activist, with a passion for filmmaking. Planning to teach on the East Coast next year.
Michael Mejia
Michael Mejia is an educator and film maker with a concentration in documentary, music videos, and narrative films. He has been an educator in several organizations throughout Albany NY including; The New York State museum in 2009, The Liberty Partnerships Program in 2011, and has been apart of Youth FX since 2010, currently serving as a program assistant. Michael received a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute and plans to continue to learn, educate, and create for the in the film industry in years to come.
Shrien Alshabasy
Shrien Alshabasy is currently a student at SUNY New Paltz, where she is majoring in English and double minoring in Film and Video Studies and Law and Politics. She has written for the Do Something organization, Penny & Mary, the Huffington Post and is currently a contributor on Mvslim.com. She has also had the honor to read her writings at St Joseph's College, The New School and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In her spare time, Shrien loves to create and compile videos, and photograph her surroundings. A native to Brooklyn and a first generation Egyptian-American, she is dying to get behind a camera to tell the stories of Arab-American and Muslim families throughout the United States. She has five chubby cats that she loves dearly.
Aden Suchak
Aden Suchak is a young filmmaker and writer from Albany, New York. He is a part of the Youth FX film program and has been writing, acting in and producing short narrative and documentary films since he was 12. His most recent short documentary film, Make it Float premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival as part of The America I Am youth filmmaker program. Aden is also a multimedia producer as part of the Albany High School Theater Program and is pursuing a degree in Documentary Studies at the University of Albany.
Taylor Taglianetti
Taylor Taglianetti is a seventeen-year-old filmmaker from Brooklyn, NY. She is an alumna of Reel Works Teen Filmmaking where she wrote, directed and edited Generation Hollow, a short documentary on the subject of computers challenging humans in the Arts. Her film was chosen as an Official Selection at the Women & Fashion FilmFest’s Girls Film Festival and won Juror’s Choice for Outstanding Youth Filmmaking at the Thirteenth Annual Women of African Descent Teen Film Festival. Taylor will be studying filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts beginning in Fall 2016.
Ricardo Amparo
Ricardo Amparo was born and raised in Baltimore City. He was always intrigued by opportunities related to media education. Mr. Amparo’s time with Wide Angle Youth Media has been a wonderful creative experience. He is currently working on his bachelor’s degree in Media Communications and looks forward to a future on and behind the silver screen.
Maya Toole
My name is Maya Toole and i'm a documentary and narrative film maker, It is my passion to continuously learn how to share stories through film and photography. Film continuously allows me the opportunities to interact with people in various capacities and different backgrounds that I otherwise would not have been able to witness first hand.
Jesse Rodkin
Jesse Rodkin is a young filmmaker from Manhattan currently studying video production and mixed digital media at the University at Buffalo. Born just before the golden age of television, he has an ingrown connection to and dependency on TV and movies. When he isn't harassing his friends and classmates to appear in his shorts or photography, you can find Jesse spray painting (on canvas, not walls), PA-ing around Brooklyn and Buffalo.
Sierra Wilhoit
Sierra Wilhoit is an emerging filmmaker based in Central New York. Growing up, she was always interested in acting and storytelling, and she found another creative outlet with film. She realized she could tell the stories she wanted by utilizing the power of mixing music with powerful images. Her goal is to make a difference in the world by filming documentaries highlighting the struggles different people around the world face everyday, to urge others to take action and help.
Noriyoshi Needle
Born in Kyoto, Japan and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Noriyoshi is a 17 year old working for Future Focus Media, a member-owned business and youth training institute. Noriyoshi has been homeschooled or “unschooled” since the 3 rd grade and has a great passion for alternative education, social justice, and community organizing. He has also been an organizer of all ages, sober, music shows in the underground music scene in Worcester since the age of 12. With his work, he hopes to empower other young people to take charge and create.
Malik Mitchell
My name is Malik Mitchell I was born on September 27, 1995. I am from Harlem, NY. I am currently a student at SUNY Cobleskill and I am a communications major. I am a member of Epsilon Pi Tau which the International Honor Society for Professions in Technology. I would like to become a filmmaker and screenwriter when I finish school. A few filmmakers that influence me are Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and John Singleton. My favorite documentary is Blackfish and my favorite movies are Kill Bill, Boyz in the Hood, Goodfellas and Training Day.
Special Thanks to the Sponsors of Next Doc:
