AR CINEMA SOCIETY: 2022 Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls Application

The Arkansas Cinema Society (ACS), the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas-Girls of Promise Initiative (WFA) and JM Associates are teaming up again this year for the fourth annual Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls meeting in person during July 2022. Participants must be an Arkansas resident between the ages of 16 and 18, have transportation to and from the Lab, and provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination by the start of the program. Applications to join the free, immersive Lab will be avaiLable on the ACS website (www.arkansascinemasociety.org) from Dec. 16, 2021, through Feb. 6, 2022. After submitting an application through the ACS website, if selected, applicants will participate in a phone or Zoom interview prior to selection.

Students will use skills learned from their mentors to write and produce a short film that will be screened at Filmland, ACS’s annual four-day celebration of cinema. Past students from the Lab have even had the opportunity for a private Q+A session with writer Lucy Alibar, Bert of directing duo Bert & Bertie, and award-winning actor and producer, Jessica Chastain!

The Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls gives young women a chance to experience screenwriting, cinematography, editing, costume design, lighting, and sound recording and ask questions about careers in the world of cinema. Students will learn a range of on-set jobs including those historically held by men such as grip or rigging camera gear. The Lab is taught by working film professionals and it begins with the students developing lookbooks and pitch decks focused on stories rooted in women’s empowerment and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), which is a major reason why ACS has had the continued support of the WFA.