Coming Up: Youth Empowerment
It’s no secret that young people today (those born after Millennials, sometimes called Generation Z) are leading an extraordinary rise in activism, from March for Our Lives to the Sunrise Movement. To learn how art, media, and mentorship are empowering a new generation of creators and change-makers, SFUFF partnered with the Youth Art Exchange and Bay Area Video Coalition, inviting local youth filmmakers to show and discuss their work at [x]space in the Outer Mission.
In Rise Up, a film directed by Marley Nelson and produced at the Bay Area Video Coalition, 17 year-old Emily tells her story of activism and leadership. Immediately after Trump was elected, Emily created “a thing on my Notes on my phone” to rally her high school crowd to march in downtown San Francisco. A good idea transformed organically into a movement as the note spread to multiple high schools in the area. The next day, Emily was shocked by the turnout. “It was probably like 3,000 of us, and we just took over the city,” she says with quiet pride.
We Are People, a short documentary by Jules Retzlaff, showed us a day in the life of another young activist, JoMae Santos, whose tenacity would be remarkable in a person twice her age. JoMae gets up at 4:15 am to commute to San Francisco from East Oakland, and after 12 hours of work at 2 different jobs, she attends organizer meetings for Migrante SoMa Tenderloin, fighting for the rights of Filipino workers. “It’s so inhibiting to work the amount of hours I do, to still sleep and eat, and then organize,” Santos says. “I want to be fully present, because the people demand that. And it is such a humbling responsibility, to be part of organizing communities that want to see liberation for oppressed people.”
Next up was Lily Yu’s film, Fenced In, about West Oakland and its effects on the young people who grow up there. Her voice, calm and wise beyond its years, narrates footage of a home that sometimes feels like a trap. “My neighborhood is fenced in by freeways,” she says matter-of-factly. “Biology class made me realize that my home is the cause of my sister’s asthma.” Playing at the parks was what everyone did after school, and they would head to a corner store for snacks. “Sodas, chips, candies can last a whole day, keeping you energized and filling you up for cheap,” Lily says. She closes with a statement about the hidden dangers of inequality in America: “We were told not to stay outside past sundown,” she says, “but we weren’t warned about our body and the long term effects, because we couldn’t see it. Nobody could.”
A change from the documentaries that came before, This is February by Lillit Barsagyahan and Sherissa Go was a silent narrative film about two girls trying to meet up in San Francisco. One of them has given the other a slip of paper with a street name and a drawing of a Victorian, which in this city is a pretty vague clue. The film is visually striking, mixing landscape shots and close-ups, cutting from the dreamlike journey of the girl who arranged the meeting to the frantic search of the other. With a timeless French song playing, the film manages to make San Francisco feel as nostalgic and romantic as Paris — like this could really be a city, and not just a bygone summer, of love.
These films were straightforward, stylish, and affecting, and when the panel discussion started, with SFUFF’s Robin Abad Ocubillo moderating, the respect from the audience was palpable. One woman had been moved to tears by Fenced In, which reminded her of her own childhood. In a time of high anxiety about the role of media and the internet in our daily lives, it’s perhaps harder than ever to trust that the kids are alright. But as panelist Jules Retzlaff said, “young adults tend to have fresh personal perspectives that come from an authentic place.”
Organizations like the Youth Arts Exchange and the Bay Area Video Coalition are giving young people ways to express and amplify their concerns. Panelist Lily Yu said that “mentors don’t treat you like a child and they treat you like a professional,” and this has been critical to her artistic development. Anyone can offer support just by stopping to seriously listen to young storytellers and activists. Prepare to feel humbled. Prepare to feel hopeful.
This event took place on February 2, 2019, at [x]space, a pop-up maker space and gallery in San Francisco, and was co-presented by Youth Art Exchange and Bay Area Video Coalition. For more information about SF Urban Film Fest, visit their website.
