Making Magic!
P.S. 8 Raises $16,000 at the Movies
by Victoria Olsen, 2nd grade parent
Photographs by Nathalie Schueller, Kindergarten parent
It all started with a couple of parents. Tracy Atkinson, PS 8 parent and filmmaker, approached Instructional Specialist Olivia Ellis last June about starting a film program at the school. They were still batting around the idea in September when Leslie Harding, another PS 8 parent, overheard them and offered her father's help. Olivia turned to her, puzzled. "Who's your father?" "Gordon Parks," Leslie replied. Olivia gasped. "The Gordon Parks? The photographer and filmmaker?" Leslie nodded, and the idea began snowballing into a project, the first film program in any New York City public elementary school. It's an appropriate milestone for a school that already includes director Spike Lee among its alumni.
Olivia Ellis looks on as Leslie Harding accepts the PS 8 Achievement Award
for her father, Gordon Parks
Olivia retold that story to a crowd of about 350 eager PS 8 students, parents, and supporters at Loew's Lincoln Square Theater on November 17th. Six weeks after that conversation in a hallway, PS 8 was hosting a premiere for the latest Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and giving the first PS 8 achievement award to Gordon Parks, pioneer African-American photographer, director, novelist, poet, and grandfather of two PS 8 students, Campbell and Satchel Harding.
The evening raised $16,000 for PS 8's innovative new film program, in which fourth- and fifth-graders will learn script-writing, story-boarding, film editing, and production in partnership with Steiner Studios. Program sponsors already include Ellen Donahue of the Proposition Gallery, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, PS 8 parents Brad and Cheri Williams, and the Brooklyn Heights Association.
"Through film, photography, music and poetry, Gordon Parks was able to cross boundaries and articulate his views," Olivia announced. "This film program will give our children another medium to express themselves, showcase their talent, and develop their passions." Due to illness, Gordon Parks was unable to accept his award in person, but his daughter Leslie handed the award to her delighted sons and said, "My father would have been inspired by the school and the creativity flowing through the halls everyday."
For photos of the event, click here.
To listen to interviews at the event, click here.
To hear the pre-film speeches, click here
As children ran through the aisles, enjoying their temporary reprieve from bedtimes and homework, their grown-ups lined up for food and wine, provided by local stores Pig N' Out, Noodle Pudding, Bliss Wines, and Michael Towne Wine and Spirits. A gaggle of second-grade girls attached themselves to the five glamorous teenagers known as the singing group Huckapoo. The group sang an acapella version of a song they performed on the TV show "That's So Raven" and signed countless autographs.
PS 8 students line up for autographs from the Huckapoo singing group
The event was a collaboration between school volunteers and local businesses. "People just jumped on board," PTA President David Goldsmith marveled. "They wanted to know what they could do to help." The long list of acknowledgments in the event program was a tribute to the massive effort it took to put the event together in time for the Harry Potter opening.
The film program will begin this spring as an enrichment cluster. Olivia provided some details: "We will purchase a Mac computer which contains the program iMovie and a camcorder. The children will use it in the building to interview staff, parents, visitors, and students. This will be used to make a news pilot that we hope to expand into a student-run news program. This in turn will help us with grant-writing and fundraising so that we can have film set-ups in every fourth- and fifth-grade classroom. Students can visit Steiner Studios to watch movies being made and NYU film school graduates, as well as well-known directors and producers, will come into the school to work with our kids too."
Posted on: December 3, 2005
