UW-Parkside to host film festival featuring work of young filmmakers

Somers, Wis. - The College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is excited to host “The Wild Midwest and Other Short Films” by student filmmakers at 6 p.m. on April 1 at the Rita Main Stage Theatre. The premiere film festival will feature student videos created in partnership with the Racine Unified School District’s Extended Learning Program and the Racine Video Production Workshop.

The festival will screen five short films and a montage of public service announcements about financial literacy for teens at the request of Educators Credit Union, a workshop sponsor. The festival is free and open to the public. Featured films include:

• “Hero Academy”
• “Life the Game”
• “Mason is Cool Now”
• “Wake up”
• “The Wild Midwest”
• “Financial Literacy is Comedy”

The film festival will showcase work produced by students from the Racine Video Production Workshop. Jason Love instructs and coordinates the workshop, an after-school program at Jerome I. Case High School for high school students in Racine County. The film festival will feature the students’ work, a full lineup of short films and behind-the-scenes footage. Film festival attendees will also hear from student panelists.

“The goal is to teach students video production,” said Love, the workshop’s supervisor. “Beyond that, they will learn leadership, project management, and even marketing.”

Love wanted a means to screen films produced by his students and reached out to Lesley Walker, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, about the opportunity to screen students’ films on UW-Parkside’s campus. Walker embraced the idea with enthusiasm.

“Since the pandemic, our college has significantly increased its video production capacity and welcomes the chance to highlight video projects created by our local high school students,” she said.

About 50 students from Racine Unified School District are involved in some aspect of video production throughout the school year. They learn to write scripts, film, design sets and costumes, and master their most challenging task, using Adobe Creative Suite for editing, sound, and color correction; all of which are valuable career skills, says Love. 

Love and his crew are excited to showcase the creativity of Racine-area youth on the big screen, while Dr. Walker is thrilled to promote these young filmmakers in keeping with “a spirit of community engagement and youth education,” which are hallmarks of the College of Arts and Humanities.

For more information and to reserve a seat, visit: https://www.uwp.edu/therita/

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside is committed to high-quality educational programs, creative and scholarly activities, and services responsive to its diverse student population, and its local, national, and global communities. We are a dynamic learning community grounded in academic excellence and focused on student success, diversity, inclusion, and community engagement. The campus serves as a premier comprehensive public institution and a destination of choice, serving as a focal point of local, regional, and global progress.

Media Contact:

Tannette Elie
Executive Director of University Relations
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
elie@uwp.edu