Want to hear about typical AMES students?
There's no such thing, and that's something we're especially proud of. The young people who participate in our programs represent a diversity of backgrounds and experience that you won't find on the evening news: or if you do, they'll be dismissed in a stereotyping sentence. And that's the point: behind the label, there's a person. And when you let those people speak for themselves, you wonder why the labels were there in the first place.
We don't treat our students with kid gloves, either: our intensive media training programs challenge them to put aside their own preconceptions and embrace the opportunity to speak up. Invariably, they rise to the occasion: after all, with most of them coming from socially-excluded communities, they're used to facing tough challenges. The environment we offer, whether on Galiano Island or in Vancouver, is supportive, non-prejudicial, and honed to bring out the best in youth: much of this is thanks to our mentors, many of them past beneficiaries of AMES programs, who guide students' visions and provide insider knowledge on how to put them on film and video.
The work of AMES doesn't stop at these programs: our collaborative work with other non-profits and activist organizations offers the same intensive media training to allow these groups to translate their activities and messages onto the screen.
AMES is committed to letting its participants speak with their own voices. So why change a winning formula? Here are just a small selection of the many young people who are happy to describe the difference that our programs made to their lives:
James Diamond took part in four AMES programs between 1997 and 2000: after attending Street Stories in 2000, he landed a full 'Out on Screen' scholarship to produce a short video at Video In in Vancouver. James now sits on the board of Video In and has plans to produce more work through AMES Access Centre on Galiano. Both 'Outline' and 'Man from Venus', a super-8 film that he produced during AMES Urban Outreach in 1998, have been screened at festivals around the world and have landed several awards. His work is carried by two distributors and has been broadcast by several TV networks.
Jesse Wilson came to Street Views '98 with no prior video experience. On the strength of the piece he created, and his other art work, Jesse landed a full-tuition scholarship to attend the Vancouver Film School the next year. He is now living on the sunshine coast and is gainfully employed as a freelance multimedia artist.
When Michelle Ryan boarded the ferry bound for 'Multicultural Visions', she didn't even dream of the possibility of a future in filmmaking. Yet today this young Aboriginal woman from East Vancouver has four short films to her credit. The first landed an award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the second was screened at Toronto's Splice This! festival, and her latest two have been screened by television networks across the country. 'Without AMES I wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to the Gulf Island Film and Television School, and gain the tools to tell my story', says Ryan. 'This powerful and inspiring experience has changed my life in so many ways. It's made me realize that I want to continue to use this medium to have an impact on people's lives.'
And having an impact she certainly is. Awarding her the Telefilm Canada Award for Best Emerging Director of a Short from Western Canada for her first film, Pride, which tells the story of perseverence in the face of racism and stereotyping, judges Mina Shum and Joan Dupont praised the film for its 'emotional courage, economy of expression, and for its telling a story with grace, compassion and restraint.' Shortly after the festival, Michelle went down to Mexico to document the Zapatista uprising; she is currently doing an internship for VTV's 'First Story', and is working on a documentary (co-produced by AMES) about the relationship between art, culture and healing entitled 'Expressions of Aboriginal Youth'.