Process for Reviewing and Selecting Films

Who Selects the Pieces for the Film Festival?

The Film Festival is run by the members of the Teen Media Program (TMP). All TMP members are between the ages of 11-19 and live in Area IV of Cambridge. Most of them live in Newtowne Court/Washington Elm Public Housing Development.

How Are the Pieces Selected?

The prescreening process lasts from September 1st through mid-October. All TMP members sign up to serve on committees. Each committee is responsible for watching all of the videos. Two chairpeople are selected to run the committee screenings. After each piece is screened, the floor is open for comments and discussion which are recorded on a critique form. The comments are written down by the chair people. After the discussion the committee members rate the videos in four areas:

Clarity of Message -- Use of the medium and video genre to deliver the message.
Integrity of Message -- Presents themes and ideas from which the audience can benefit.
Meets the Mission of the Festival -- Giving youth producers like us the chance to be heard.
Technical Quality -- Sound and video quality support the message.

In each area the pieces are rated from 1 through 5, with 5 being the strongest. Any member's vote can be challenged, and if it is, that member must explain his/her reason for the vote. All comments are returned to each submitting producer.

After the committee has watched all the pieces in its category, the videos are ranked in order. The committee then debates the list, moving beyond the scores, and deciding if this accurately reflects their thoughts on what should be presented as the committee's final list of recommendations. This final list of recommendations is given to the Festival Curating Group, made up of TMP members, selected by their peers, to take the committee recommendations and make the final program.

The Festival Curating Group takes a weekend retreat to Boston University's Sargeant Center in New Hampshire to curate the final festival program. The teens in this group, made up primarily of the committee chair people, are given recommendations from the screening committees. Over the course of the two days they determine the final program. This group has to weigh in factors such as the overall length of the final program, the geographical locations of the producers and variety of content. They are responsible for looking at the final program as a whole and as an audience would perceive it. When this group returns from the weekend retreat, these decisions are publicly announced.