Insider

Film Arts education program evolves with SFFS partnership

By Chris Wiggum

"Film Arts was started by a handful of people around a flatbed editor," says Michael A. Behrens, Filmmaker Education Manager for Film Arts Foundation, which now presents its filmmaker education classes, workshops and seminars in partnership with the San Francisco Film Society, publisher of SF360.org. "And then they made that highly expensive piece of equipment available to a larger number of people."

"Now," he says, "you can buy a $500 camera and you’re on the street making a movie." Times have changed—which is why Behrens frequently uses the word "evolution" when it comes to his vision of the filmmaker education program.

Behrens, energized by the Film Society’s recent adoption of a suite of filmmaker services previously offered by Film Arts, is finalizing a hearty schedule of classes aimed at filmmakers, to debut in mid-October. As has been the case for many years, the upcoming slate will focus on various stages of filmmaking—from screenwriting and post-production to funding and distribution. Former staples, such as 16mm camera basics will not be the central focus of the program as it shifts alignment to digital-era practices, but technical training will certainly be explored, says Behrens. Classes will take place at the San Francisco Film Centre in the Presidio (home to the Film Society), the Ninth Street Independent Film Center and other locations around town.

"If you are a filmmaker, if you are an activist, if you are a person with an idea, this is the place to come to get your goal accomplished and to put something in front of an audience," says Behrens. “We will also offer a new slate of film appreciation classes as a complement to our core classes."

The program’s expansion will provide students with a number of career-development options, including networking events, such as the monthly Film Arts Forum, access to a newly formed Filmmaker Advisory Board, and access to 2,800-square-feet of production-office space in the newly coined SFFS FilmHouse Residencies at Pier 27 (made available courtesy of the San Francisco Film Commission) and grant opportunities to fund their work.

Behrens says he sees the benefits to Bay Area filmmakers as "more opportunity as a student, more opportunity for exhibition, more opportunity for networking. And more opportunity for all around success, however you define it."

Three sessions a year will be offered, says Behrens, with 15-20 classes for Fall, 2008. In the second trimester, the plan is to expand further. Film Society members, including former Film Arts members, will receive discounted pricing on classes.

For those familiar with the Film Arts program, there will be a number of familiar faces. Instructors include Film Arts regulars Mitchell Block, producer, David Brown, filmmaker, Holly Million, author, and Richard Lee, lawyer. Film Society Executive Director, Graham Leggat, will also teach a class, tentatively titled "World/Cinema." Coursework in everything from directing and producing through financing, budgeting, legal needs and grant writing to marketing, publicity, and exhibition, as well as film appreciation seminars, will complement each other from trimester to trimester, so that students can build on what they’ve learned, says Behrens.

Lynn Hershman, artist, filmmaker and chair of the San Francisco Art Institute’s Film Department, says that the Film Society’s program will be a valuable addition to the film education landscape. "It offers a nice supplement, especially to those out of school."

Also evolving from the traditional Film Arts model will be a handful of online classes. Syllabi and assignments will be available online, but class interaction will still take place, albeit in a virtual space, says Behrens. Through instant messaging and streaming of video projects, students and teachers will be able to interact in real time from around the city, or even around the country.

"We had never been able to develop on online education component and that is now an important objective," says Steve Ramirez, FAF President. The transition of professional education to the Film Society provides an opportunity to grow the program substantially, he noted. "This is the most robust offering of classes outside of a university setting. The Film Society is building on the foundation that Film Arts has established and taking it in a new direction."

While many post-grads turn to Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) to learn filmmaking crafts—Mindy Aronoff, BAVC’s Director of Training and Resources, notes that "video production, editing, graphics, motion graphics, 3D modeling all remain strong classes for us"—the FAF/Film Society partnership can fill the vacuum of post-graduate community tools, knowledge, contacts and networking, in addition to more traditional filmmaking training. Leggat hopes that classes will work hand-in-hand with other opportunities his organization can provide.

The Film Society’s filmmaker services program looks to prepare students for the broad spectrum of concerns that will face them as they make films and attempt to get them seen. "We can do better as a bridge toward professional advancement," says Leggat. "We have more contacts with funders with investors, with the industry. And we can ourselves invent exhibition opportunities."

"Each time a filmmaker makes a film here, it’s like climbing a mountain all over again," says Leggat. The Film Arts Foundation’s new education program, through its partnership with the Film Society, hopes to turn that mountain into a molehill.

topics: bay area, digital filmmaking, directors, film arts foundation, filmmakers, san francisco film society

08.25.2008