In 2016, The Picture House launched our first Documentary Intensive Camp for high school students in our satellite film lab on Wolfs Lane in downtown Pelham. Every year since then, this week-long camp has provided high school students with the opportunity to not only learn about documentary filmmaking from a professional filmmaker, but to give back to their communities as well. Every year, students and our professional instructor collaborate with a nonprofit from the surrounding area that would like to share their story with a wider audience through video. Our students learn about the structure of documentary filmmaking, as well as the process of pre-production, filming, interviewing, and post-production. Students also learn about the work of the featured organization,  and are eligible to receive volunteer service hours from their school. By the end of the week, the students are functioning together like a professional film crew, and receive individual credits on the video that they can use for future portfolios, resumes, and college applications. 

Because of the pandemic, we were not able to offer this experience to students last summer; we are so excited to be able to offer this popular camp once again in the summer of 2021! Under the guidance of filmmaker Jeff Watkins, this year’s Documentary Intensive is sure to be a rigorous and inspiring week for our students. We can’t wait to see them back in our theater and behind the cameras again. 

Check out the video that started it all, our spotlight on County Harvest from 2016: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/180060024

For more information about this camp and all of our summer camp offerings: https://thepicturehouse.org/summer-camp/