Teen filmmakers from Armenia to participate in film festival in New York

PanARMENIAN.Net - The world premiere of the second edition of Youth Producing Change, an innovative program of youth-produced short films from across the globe, will be presented on June 19-20, 2009, by the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (June 11-25), in collaboration with the founding presenter Adobe Youth Voices. Ten films will be shown this year, selected from over 300 international submissions.



Representing Armenia is Sako (2005), the story of a 13-year-old boy who works in a gravestone factory to support his family. Sako speaks about his daily life, and his dreams of going to school. The five-minute documentary, in Armenian with English subtitles, was produced by teen filmmakers Aram Abrahamyan and David Martirosyan of Manana Youth Center.



Armed with digital cameras and their own boundless creativity, the first-time filmmakers featured in the series bravely expose some of the most pressing human-rights challenges of our day, tackling such issues as child labor, immigration, access to clean water, sexual violence, police harassment, HIV/AIDS in Mozambique, and teen homelessness in New York City. All of the films were produced by filmmakers who were under the age of 19 at the time of production.



The Youth Producing Change program will be shown at the The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater on June 19 at 7 p.m. and June 20 at 2 p.m.



The Manana Youth Center has announced that Sako will also be screened in Boston (fall 2009), London (March 2010), and San Francisco (Spring 2010).