Fact Sheet

About the Do It Your Damn Self!! National Youth Video and Film Festival

The Community Art Center's eighth annual Do It Your Damn Self!! National Youth Video and Film Festival will take place November 21-22, 2003 at MIT's Wong Auditorium in Cambridge, MA. The festival celebrates youth ages 12 - 18, from low-income neighborhoods in Area IV Cambridge as well as others from around the country, who express themselves and the issues in their lives through film and video.

This year's Do It Your Damn Self!! Film Festival will showcase entries submitted from seven categories, which include animation, narrative, documentary, music video, PSA, and video poetry. Festival highlights include the youth screening and discussion of festival entries and the Festival Gala - a vibrant evening of dinner, live music, and discussion with hundreds of youth producers, artists, filmmakers and others from around the Boston area and beyond.

2002 Festival Highlights

Over 500 people attended the 2-day events, selling out both screenings;
We included our first international entry ("Fresh from Da Desh" from England);
The Teen Media Program and Film Festival were featured in a news segment on Fox25 as well as covered by The Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix and the Boston Herald; and
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held an encore screening of the festival in June 2003.

2003 Festival Schedule

Youth Screening and Discussion
Friday, November 21
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Free, open only to teachers and student groups
Location: MIT campus, Wong Auditorium.

Out-of-town Guest Events
Friday, November 21 &
Saturday, November 22
TMP hosts activities, pizza party, Underground Screening, Duck Tours, and other fun with youth video producers visiting from out-of-town.

Public Gala & Screenings
Saturday, November 22
6-7 p.m. - Dinner and reception
7-10 p.m. - Viewing and discussion
9.30 p.m. - Second screening (no dinner or discussion)
Adults $10-$25, Under 18 $5. No teens turned away for lack of funds.
Location: MIT Campus, Wong Auditorium at the Tang Center (Bldg. E-51). Entrance at the corner of Amherst and Wadsworth Street.

Goodbye Brunch
Sunday, November 23
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: TBA
Free, open to Community Art Center students and Guest Video Producers

About the Community Art Center

The Community Art Center is a non-profit community-based organization that promotes the social, educational, and cultural growth of young people through exposure to the arts. We provide comprehensive, year-round after school programs for over 125 youth annually who live in Washington Elms/Newtowne Court public housing in Cambridge’s Area IV, the most diverse and lowest income district in the city. The Teen Media Program provides 21st century training in photography, video production, and multimedia skills, giving teens a chance to explore their lives through a media arts curriculum. The Do It Your Damn Self!! Film Festival brings the work of hundreds of youth filmmakers to Cambridge every year.