716: Fine Art

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Nicholas Michael Ravnikar
Program Director, Film Seed
email: film.seed@gmail.com
phone: (262) 909-2221

*Young Filmmakers Host All-Genre Concert in Racine: “Hot Enough to Melt Headphones”*

Hip hop, American roots music, funk, folk, and metal. Six bands from Milwaukee, Chicago, Racine and Waukegan. All at one venue for one express purpose: to raise funds for Film Seed, a nonprofit collective of independent film-makers and scholars that teaches Racine youth how to make movies.

The event, titled Film Seed Soundtrack, will feature Milwaukee hip-hop crew ALIAS, and Chicago Latino-fusion band LFT (pronounced “left”), along with hardcore/metal bands Inferis Exterra and Thunderdriver. American roots band the RadioRoots and self-described “psychedelic folk hip hop” group Fugue, both from Racine, will be playing as well.

Doors will open at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 14 at Optix (Paradise West), 6501 W. Washington Avenue (Highway 20) in Racine, WI. Guests must be 21 years or older and show ID. Tickets are only five dollars.
A collective of local filmmakers and UW-Parkside professors, alumni, and students, Film Seed has been meeting with community youth once every week for the past two months to plot, script, shoot, and edit a short (15 - 20 minute) digital movie. Their short film, titled “Ice Cream Helps,” will screen in late May.

Other goals for the program include developing more positions of responsibility and creative options for area youth, along with more opportunities for adults to be positive role models who support to the next generation of artists and community leaders.
“It’s been great so far,” said Lisa, 15, one of five young filmmakers in the Film Seed program. “I’m learning how to write a script, how to think about characters, and even how to use a camera.”

Lisa said that after graduating, she wants to study to be a forensic scientist. She thinks that Film Seed will help her “use camcorders to record crime scenes, or even work with one of the television shows about crime scene investigation.”

“It’s a great experience,” said Holly Verwey, a UW-Parkside student interning as program coordinator for Film Seed. “It feels great working with youth from the area who come from the same background I did. And knowing that we’re helping make independent movies a staple in the community is like icing on the cake.”

Film Seed has partnered with numerous local organizations to provide its programming, including: the Racine Arts Council, UW-Parkside’s Film Studies Program, Professional Service Group, Big Brothers Big Sisters, 716: Fine Art, On-TRACK, Shoot-to-Kill (STK) Productions, Racine Workforce Development, Youth As Resources-Racine County, and the “It Came from Lake Michigan” Independent Film Festival.