"Unseen" is one of the more rewarding projects we've ever worked
on. After students had shot about 5 hours of video interviews with their peers
all around the city, we were grought in to help them fashion their footage
into a short documentary. With their insights in hand, we cut the piece you
see here, regrouping with them periodically to get their feedback on rough
cuts. The result premiered at PSF's unveiling of their "Connected
by 25" initiative.
These three filmmakers were enrolled at
Open Meadow
Alternative Schools ("a private, non-profit, accredited, educational
organization serving youth who have not fared well in the public schools"),
so they know firsthand the motivation, discipline and support it takes
to succeed in the public schools - and how easy it is to fail.
As filmmaker Courtney Palmer says in the film, "Kids are our future. Would
you trust us with your future right now if everybody's failing?
"We're going through so much and it's like [adults] don't understand... You guys
gotta open your eyes" - invest time and energy in kids so they're no longer unseen - "or the kids are going to continue to fail."