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Tuesday September 1 2015 15 ARTS CULTURE FILM Please leave a message at 872-5543 for details. WESCLEAN NORTHERN SALES LTD. FemaleBaby Calico Looking for a new home Tricia is very well-behaved and loves to be cuddled. Shes only a baby and she needs somebody to love her and take care of her. But you can adopt her and love her. Yay A happy ending Youth lm workshops foster creativity through new media By DALI CARMICHAEL From slasher lms to maa movies to music videos the youth of Fort Smith have been busy translating stories from their imagina- tion into content for the silver screen. For the last month the small group has been busy taking part in a series of Youth- Rise workshops a program that teaches kids to explore their creativity through lm and for the rst time this year music. YouthRise was started by local lmmaker Carla Ulrich last summer. After a success- ful rst round she was delighted to see her students double in number this year. With a bigger class to work with Ulrich decided to take her lessons to the next level. This year is about writing directing pro- ducing and editing whereas last year it was just lming Ulrich said. To ensure the kids got the best education Ulrich enlisted fellow lmmakers Jay Cardi- nal Villeneuve - who helped with last years workshops - and Damien Eagle Bear a new- comer to the North this summer. Its been great Eagle Bear said. I love teaching lmmaking to the youth its got its own challenges and it also reinforces and re- minds me of what Ive learned just through lmmaking. We all have these big crazy ideas and the kids are just full of them. When we were writing down the stories and pitching them all one idea sparks another sparks an- other and then it just gets so big and hilarious and funny and it inspired me creatively too. Together the squad worked on a handful of lms including the short Hickey Gone Wrong based on local author Richard Van Camps graphic novel of the same name. The group also came up with their own creative works ranging from lm trailers to public service announcements to short lms. In addition to the extras on their film crews Ulrich harnessed the power of Fort Smiths rock duo Veronica and Dave Johnny to run simultaneous songwriting workshops. While they werent working on their lms the youth sat in on sessions with The Johnnys to collaborate on the soundtrack for Hickey Gone Wrong. Its been great The Johnnys really know the people in the community Ulrich said. Theyre also very successful in their realm because theyre full-time musicians. Having that experience mixed in with what were try- ing to do has been so great. Were relatively new and the biggest challenge for us has been trying to gure out how to deliver the best program how to get the kids involved how to nd more money how to work everything how to schedule everything. A vision for the future As the popularity of YouthRise expands Ulrich hopes to eventually offer a wider va- riety of programming to the community. We want to try and do animation and eventually game design she said. Shed also like to bring dance classes especially bal- let back to Fort Smith as an activity for kids throughout the year. Until Ulrichs goal comes to fruition the kids have said theyre ready to use what theyve learned to develop projects on their own time. This year its been a bit more work said Kole Laviolette 11 a dedicated film student who participated in both sum- mer sessions. Last year after I did the workshops I tried making films at home a couple of times but we werent really doing the entire thing last year. This year were actually making a movie from start to finish doing scriptwriting and filming and everything. Its been a blast working with them. Others have approached Ulrich and her team about bringing YouthRise workshops to other communities around the North an exciting prospect for the young lmmaker. While attered by the opportunity Ulrich said her ultimate goal is to foster community through workshops getting regions to access their own existing talent to bring exciting op- portunities to local children. Theres people who are interested and to me its a no-brainer she said. If I have the tools and I can give them the tools why dont we gure that out To keep up-to-date with YouthRise and its upcoming events or to donate to the or- ganization head to httpwww.gofundme. comYouthRise PhotocourtesyofYouthRise The YouthRise crew sets up a shot for their short slasher lm at Old Bell Rock. Over the last month the youth and their instructors have shot a wide variety of projects all based on scripts the group worked on together.