For the past five years, IFP/Chicago has run the Summer Production Program, a program where high school students are paid to go through the script-to-screen process of producing a short film. While the students are responsible for every single aspect of the production, they are given the tools they need by local industry professionals coming in before production begins and working with the students one-on-one in relation to their individual jobs.

This program has been a huge success, garnering several awards, including two national Student Emmy’s in both 2006 and 2007, an NAACP Act-So Award, positive press attention, including a cover story in the Chicago Tribune, and, most importantly new skills, confidence and dreams of the future for the underserved participants in the program.

This summer, we in our first year conducting the program at Hyde Park Career Academy, as our former school, CVCA, cut their programming and dissolved the Radio/TV/Film program that we had worked with for the past five years. As more and more arts education is cut from the public school system, we feel even more responsibility to continue programs such as this one.  Not only have we provided students with knowledge and experience, but with a summer job that many desperately need.  Additionally, the knowledge that several students that have had no previous film experience have gone on to four-year universities to study film as a result of this program is one of the most rewarding affirmations possible regarding the effect the program is having on the participants.

2009’s CARJACKED has recently started playing the festival circuit with the world premiere at The Giggleshorts International Comedy Short Film Festival in Toronto and followed with a screening at The Wisconson Film Festival with many more festivals on the horizon.

2008’s HUSH received a Midwest regional Emmy award and won the top prize out of 400 entries at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival’s High School Competition.  It continued win awards and play in numerous film festivals all over the world, including being named #33 in the Global 100 Films, created by the “world’s best young filmmaking talent” by the YoungCuts Film Festival in Canada.

2007’s WAKE ME UP LATER just received a National Student Emmy award for the second year in a row. Only seven awards are given each year. WMUL was nominated for an NAACP award, won a Midwest regional Emmy and is slate to screen in the CineYouth festival here in Chicago.

2006’s THE LAST STAIN received one of seven National Student ‘Emmy’ Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, beating out 600 entries. This important honor has resulted in much-deserved attention for the students and the program, including a cover story in the Chicago Tribune and news reports on the Chicago NBC and CBS affiliates. Production of THE LAST STAIN was also the subject of a Chicago Tonight report, which airs on the Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW.

2005’s SCREAM AT ME was enthusiastically received by local festival audiences at the Black Harvest Film Festival and the Future Filmmakers Festival, and was one of four projects nationally to win an award from Time Warner’s youth media program. SCREAM AT ME won the Kodak Opportunity Award at the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison, beating out 56 other shorts. It was the only film by high school students in the competition.