Thank you Ability Magazine and writer Karina Ulrike Sturm for the wonderful profile of our work and FAITH’S WORLD.
“When the world starts listening to children or young adults, great things happen. Over recent years, more and more children began advocating for their cause – whether it is Greta Thunberg and her work around climate change or Malala Yousafzai and her fight for female education – and their voices influenced not only public opinion but also caused political action. However, children still aren’t getting the attention they deserve. Holly Carter wanted to change that. Her organization BYkids allows children and young adults to produce documentary films and show their world from their perspective. ABILITY Magazine’s Karina Sturm talks to journalist, filmmaker and founder Holly Carter about the organization, as well as to Faith Guilbault, one of the young adults producing a film about her life with cerebral palsy.” READ ABILITY MAGAZINE ARTICLE
August 26, 2021
THIRTEEN WNET NEW YORK INCLUDES SEVEN BYKIDS FILMS IN SHOWCASE
Thanks to Thirteen WNET New York for including seven BYkids films in their “Gen Z Life in Documentaries and Dramas” showcase.
Gen Z life today is shown in this series, with seven films from BYkids’ Gen Z filmmakers including AGAINST THE CURRENT, L’CHAIM, FAITH’S WORLD, I COULD TELL YOU ‘BOUT MY LIFE, BUDDHISM, BHUTAN AND ME, POET AGAINST PREJUDICE and MY BEAUTIFUL NICARAGUA.
BYKIDS PARTNERS WITH MAINE COMMUNITY INTEGRATION AND THE JOHN T. GORMAN FOUNDATION TO LAUNCH THE BYKIDS LEWISTON YOUTH FILM INSTITUTE
We partnered with Maine Community Integration and the John T. Gorman Foundation to bring our new film institute to the city of Lewiston. Elizabeth Hummer, an award-winning BYkids film mentor, worked with 16 young women from Lewiston to teach them how to capture and tell their stories on film. They worked to document developments in Lewiston mean for them and their community.
June 14, 2021
James M. Brasher Joins the BYkids Board
BYkids is thrilled that James M. Brasher, Founding Principal, Development Counsel, has joined the board. Jim is a chief strategist, development and communications officer with major clients including The Carter Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) at Georgetown University and the Global Fund for Children. Jim is the Founding Director of Global Philanthropists Circle with Peggy Dulany and David Rockefeller. In addition to the BYkids Board, he serves as a trustee of Future Generations University, Madoo Conservancy and LongHouse Reserve. He lives in Sagaponack, NY.
May 13, 2021
LOTS OF GREAT PRESS ABOUT FILMS BYKIDS SEASON THREE ON PUBLIC TELEVISION
Cultural Survival Quarterly published this profile of BYkids filmmaker, Daunnette Reyome-Moniz, and her film, AGAINST THE CURRENT. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
The Forward’s PJ Grisar published a feature on the BYkids film L’CHAIM as two generations of Germans look to the past and future of the countries Jews. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Creative News announced that Final Cut has collaborated on all three seasons of the Films BYkids series for public television alongside Significant Others, Final Cut’s sister company, which completed the finishing for all three seasons. Stephanie Apt, founder of Final Cut and board member of BYkids adds: “I am passionate in my belief that film gives voice to issues that we need to confront. The films in season 3 lend fresh, deeply empathetic perspectives to some of the most pressing issues faced by humanity around the globe. Final Cut is proud to help cultivate the talents of the next generation of storytellers.” READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
BYkids Founder and Executive Director is interviewed for WNET UP NEXT. LISTEN HERE
The Baltimore Sun features Faith Guilbault and her BYkids film, FAITH’S WORLD about being differently abled and how her film will serve as a global teaching tool. The story was picked up by Yahoo News and the Kaiser Health News. READ ARTICLE HERE
“Nothing stops 17-year-old filmmaker, model and activist, Faith Guilbault – not cerebral palsy, epilepsy or cortical vision impairment.” Meet Faith on An Apple a Day podcast. LISTEN HERE
Our partners at HundrED wrote this wonderful piece. “Films BYkids gives voice to young people and uses film as a tool for global understanding,” says Sandra Sheppard, executive producer for THIRTEEN and director of WNET’s Kids’ Media and Education. “We are delighted to provide resources that can help educators foster cross-cultural awareness and empathy in their students.” “Virtual learning provides an opportunity to evolve education — by bringing the world to kids – wherever they are, in classrooms and homes,” said Holly Carter, founder and executive director of BYkids, a nonprofit, which uses documentaries made by kids to support social-emotional learning. “Film is the perfect medium for 21st century learning. It is intimate, authentic and captivating.” READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
May 11, 2021
BYKIDS HOSTS TEACHER WORKSHOP USING “MY BEAUTIFUL NICARAGUA” TO LEARN ABOUT COFFEE, GENDER AND CLIMATE ISSUES
Matt Nink leads an engaging 75-minute, middle- and high-school workshop using MY BEAUTIFUL NICARAGUA. “This workshop was very helpful for me to add to my tool box. Thanks for such timely resources and ideas,” says a middle school teacher from Wisconsin.
View MY BEAUTIFUL NICARAGUA (27 min)
High School Lesson Plan: Role of women in coffee production and how climate change affects the growers. Climate Crisis
Middle School Lesson Plan: Where coffee comes from and how it gets to your kitchen
Q & A and Discussion
April 23, 2021
PRESENTING OUR NEW PROMO
Thanks to the profound words from Messiah Ramkissoon and everyone at Final Cut and Significant Others (especially Stephanie Apt and Miky Wolf) we are proud to present this powerful new message about listening to our youth. WATCH HERE
April 22, 2021
THE NATIONSWELL COUNCIL HOSTS SCREENING OF “AGAINST THE CURRENT” AND DISCUSSION WITH FILMMAKERS TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY
BYkids partnered with the NationSwell Council to screen and discuss AGAINST THE CURRENT with filmmaker, Daunnette Moniz-Reyome, her mentor, Evan Mascagni, and BYkids Executive Director, Holly Carter. It was a lively Zoom conversation, moderated by A Picture’s Worth Elissa Yancey. The audience was blown away:
“So moving. One of the best short films I’ve ever seen.”
“Bravo! This was amazing and powerful storytelling! Thank you for sharing your journey!”
“Wow! Just wow. Thanks so much for this beautiful, heart-warming film, Daunnette”
“This is extraordinary. From turning negative experiences into love as a form of medicine to embracing two-spiritedness to healing oneself from historical trauma and being a cultural warrior — so many lessons and sources of inspiration!”
“Wonderful, powerful imagery and messaging. Healing trauma by acknowledging it, releasing it, sharing the experience with others. We do not have to he held back by our past, ancestral or in this life! Beautiful film!”
“So inspiring! To sustain tradition and community amidst so many barriers and direct resistance! an incredible model of resilience.”
April 22, 2021
“Buddhism, Bhutan and Me” Airing on Public Televison
Eighteen-year-old Rinzin Jurmey from Bhutan decided to become a monk and student of Buddhism when he was eleven years old. While many of his peers in modern schools are more materialistic, Jurmey enjoys a contemplative lifestyle. Bhutan, a small nation which was cut off from the rest of the world until only a few decades ago, uses a Gross National Happiness Index rather than gross domestic product to measure economic and moral progress and promote Buddhist spiritual values. But tourism, technology, and globalization have had a major impact on the country. As Jurmey travels between his monastery, his mountain village, and the city, he meets with hip hop dancers, video game enthusiasts, and sports fans, seeking to understand the intersection of tradition and pop culture. With guidance from cinematographer Cat Papadimitriou, Jurmey documents the ways in which he–and his country–are striving to preserve ancient practices while embracing modernity.
New York metro area, THIRTEEN: Sunday, April 25, at 7:30 PM
BYKIDS PARTICIPATING IN THE 2021 WNET YOUTH COLLECTIVE SUMMIT, FROM PASSION TO ACTION
Join BYkids at the WNET Youth Collective Summit 2021 for Session #3/Taking Action on April 28 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm Eastern.
In addition to a panel with Changemaker Award recipients Nupol Kiazolu, Dustin Liu and Meera Dasgupta about their work as youth leaders, our BYkids workshops will focus on how young people can take action.
We will lead two workshops: Documentary Filmmaking for Change. For students interested in documentary filmmaking, we will give young people a stage to share their perspectives on today’s most pressing global issues by empowering them to explore topics that impacts us all. In this session, explore how filmmaking can be a form of action and shed light on issues that are important to us all.
