Students in Maine are getting busy learning filmmaking (as well as acting) to bring social issues into the spotlight. Project Aware, an organization based in Saco, Maine, has been working on film projects with younger generations since 2003, on difficult topics such as teen anxiety and bullying

Carl Lakari heads up Project Aware and is also a co-founder. The overall purpose of Project Aware is to empower young people to lead, and they achieve this through a variety of projects and programs.

What caught my eye are the films Project Aware is teaching students to create. Here’s an example of a anti-bullying PSA:

There’s so much to Project Aware, I find it hard to describe it in just a few words, so I’ll focus the remainder of this article on their Summer Film Institute for Teens. Imagine empowering younger generations to visually communicate about resolving important issues that affect their own generation? Powerful. Here’s a few results taken from their website:

• SFI Attendees produces the movie Listen (available on DVD) was produced along with powerful PSAs on cyberbullying, racism and distracted driving.
• two (13 and 14 years old) attendees created a PSA on parenting that ultimately served as the basis for Project AWARE’s 3^rd movie Influenced. This award-winning movie was created at the 2009 institute and is available on DVD.
• 10 Sanford kids who attended the Institute went back to school, got involved in their film club, and created the award-winning movie April’s Heart
• a young women returned to her school and created a PSA with her new skills; it received rave reviews and the commercial was picked up, re-produced professionally and aired nationally.
• A PSA created on teen pregnancy has received over 200,000 views on You Tube and has sparked deep conversation about this contentious issue.
• Recently an 8^th grader used his PSA and story on bullying in his hometown; it now airs on broadcast TV in Maine and he was nominated and chosen as a top 10 finalist for a $10,000Colin Higgins Youth Courage Award from thousands of applicants nationwide.
• 4 young women created a powerful video about sexual assault as they processed their own childhood experiences. Sexual Assault Response Services is planning to use the PSA for education in schools.
• finally, a 14 year old teen was able to write, direct, and lead in her own movie about the healthy passions of youth. A Shoestring for Mackenzie is planned for a 2012 release.

Tell me, where do you find such programs today? Far and few between. So when you find one, be sure to support it in any way you can. Love filmmaking? Foster it in the younger generations. You can donate or possibly offer your time as an instructor.  At the very least, share this article with your fellow filmmakers and spread the words.

Good deeds deserve to be shared, don’t you think? Know another filmmaking-related project worthy of a little recognition? Let us know by communicating to us in the comment box below.