STUDENT DIVERSITY EDUCATION PROGRAM
As part of the fourth annual Seattle Jewish Film
Festival, The American Jewish Committee is pleased to announce
FILMTalks!, a unique student diversity education program, free to Seattle high school
students. FILMTalks! will be held on Tuesday March 16, 1999, at On The Boards, from 9am to
3:30pm. Students will be transported from their school to On The Boards at the beginning
of the school day, and transported back to their schools at the end of the program.
Transportation will be arranged by AJC. Lunch and snacks will be provided.
Designed to stimulate thought and generate discussion, FILMTalks! challenges youth to
confront prejudice and combat
bigotry. Bringing together 300 students from public and private schools, FILMTalks! gives
participants the opportunity to begin developing the skills necessary to enhance
intergroup communication, to promote intercultural understanding, and to foster respect
for diversity in their schools and in our community.
The goal of FILMTalks! is to use film as a vehicle to engage students in discussions on
issues of bigotry, intolerance and prejudice. Through film students will be given the
opportunity to find their voice on these issues in a hands-on,
participatory, creative and non-threatening manner. The program will encompass both a
"town hall meeting" and small
discussion groups. All small discussion groups will be lead by peer facilitators. A group
of students from participating high schools will be trained as the peer facilitators for
this event. These students will participate in a series of trainings to prepare them for
the FILMTalks! program.
At its core, FILMTalks! uses the documentary Black to the Promised Land to raise issues of
cultural misconceptions and stereotypes for discussion. Black to the Promised Land is a
remarkable film about a group of African American students from an alternative high school
in one of New York's toughest neighborhoods who, through the arrangements of their Jewish
teacher, spend three months on a kibbutz in Israel.
To reserve a space for FILMTalks! '99, please contact Francine Joss, FILMTalks!
Coordinator at (206)622-6315
|
