Rounding out our month of celebrating our students aspirations, hopes and dreams, we had the opportunity to speak with Alex Perez, the student filmmaker who produced the hard hitting and inspiring film, “In This Life, Nothing Is Impossible.”

Adobe Youth Voices (AYV): How did you originally get inspired to make a film that featured so many personal, and at times difficult, details about a young person’s life?

Alex Perez (AP): My mentor Gabriel Lomeli and I were brain storming on what videos to make, and I told him I wanted to make a video about someone that was underprivileged. When Gabriel went to lunch the next day he saw a homeless person and he threw out that idea. I was enthusiastic about it, so we were thinking about which person we could choose. We later found our person when I learned that my friend Leamsi was homeless. I decided to choose him since I knew that he was also an immigrant from Puerto Rico. After hearing his story I was inspired by his story and thought it was perfect.

AYV: Your film is “based on a true story” – Can you tell us about the process of writing the script, how you chose what real life details to put into the film?

AP: I didn’t really have to write a script, we just set up several cameras and allowed him to tell us his life story and experiences. We later decided what footage we thought was most important. The only thing I had to figure out was the b-role while he was telling us his story.

AYV: Since making the film, what turns has your life taken? What are you doing now? What are your plans for the future?

AP: I am now in college preparing to get a bachelor’s in marketing and a minor in advertisement. I want to use my media skills to create advertisements.

Guest post by Kate Busby

Here’s a little about Andy Jones from St Charles Roman Catholic Sixth Form College. He is like a backbone to Adobe Youth Voices London, one of the core educators who kept the project alive and kicking back when it was piloted in the UK three years ago.

Andy is a bit like London’s own Gregg Witkin, another Adobe Youth Voices icon, except that the two have never met: both are natural speakers, with an incredible enthusiasm and natural aptitude for teaching, which leads them very easily to have a whole-hearted investment in the program.

In Andy’s words, “Adobe Youth Voices is a lot more than pedagogical; because there is no specific assessment criteria or ticking boxes, the education the young people receive is unrestricted and incredibly enriching.”

In addition to regularly inspiring the masses, Andy is sometimes found writing textbooks to be distributed nationwide about media for Palgrade Publishers or teaching new media to future stars of the British film industry (Bafta award-winning director Noel Clarke, anyone?).

Having known his creative partner, Brighton-based photographer Tom Wichelow, for fourteen years, but never quite finding the right opportunity to rope him in to an artistic collaboration, Adobe Youth Voices came along and gave him exactly that chance. This is the fourth year that the two have been working fruitfully on the project together now, guiding the St Charles students as they research, recover and then express their family heritage in photographs.

This year, the participants are currently producing projects with two foci: stories of migration coupled with images of transition. They will be exhibited in what looks to be another moving and sensitive showcase at the British Film Institute as part of Adobe Youth Voices London Live from March 14th-16th, 2011.

Kate Busby
Adobe Youth Voices Master Educator

Guest post by Gregg Witkin

Adriana, a senior at Boynton High School, loves music.  She never remembers a time in which music wasn’t an important aspect to her or her parent’s lives.  Her parents moved from Mexico and carried with them a love for music which they instilled in their daughter.  Having been born in San Jose, Adriana has been exposed to many different genres of music both from the US and Mexico.  Her upbringing has influenced her to pick up the clarinet and join an all girl Mexican band, a rarity in the male dominated world of Ranchero music.

Prior to attending Boynton Adriana didn’t really excel in an academic setting and came very close to dropping out of school.  After picking up the clarinet and transferring to Boynton she found herself changing, both in her role as a student and as a musician.  Now she feels she has unlimited potential both in school and in music, her outlook has been dramatically altered.

For Adriana her film is important to her as she strives to put to film her passion for music and impact it has had on her life and the relationships it has fostered.  She has found that the more she involves herself with music the more connected she feels to her family and friends.

Adriana hopes she will inspire others with her film to explore their own musical backgrounds and interest.

Gregg Witkin
Adobe Youth Voices Master Educator

We’ve spent the last month sharing student work on the theme of human rights: hard hitting topics filled with passion and sometimes pain. Our talented students have shared their thoughts on issues ranging from indigenous rights to the immigrant experience, from child labor to women’s rights to self-expression, the experiences of refugees and the effect of prison on families.

As we enter the new year, we hope to inspire everyone to think about the issues that resonate most with them, and to get inspired to take the big and little steps that affect change in our individual lives and in our communities.

Tell us, what change do you want to see in your life this year? What change do you want to see in your community, and in the world? We hope you will share your hopes and dreams, and your plans to take action & see those dreams come true in 2011.

Happy New Year!

Stacey Long
Program Manager
Adobe Youth Voices