Youth Film Festival Presents the Facing History Award

Fairfield, Connecticut - David Burstein believes in the power of film to inspire social movements. "The style of documentary filmmaking is changing so much towards films that can create movements or call people to service. You look at movies like An Inconvenient Truth or Who Killed the Electric Car?and you see that they are more that just films--they cause people to think about what's going on," he said.

Three years ago, Burstein and some fellow students at Weston High School in Weston, Connecticut, created the Westport Youth Film Festival, a student run film festival featuring the work of high school filmmakers. Now entering its fourth year, WYFF is largest festival of its kind, screening almost 90 films of the hundreds submitted from across the U.S. and abroad.

Burstein and his co-founder Chris Casey believe so strongly in film's potential to make a difference they decided to create an award, named after Facing History, to honor films that deal with issues of social justice. The award was inspired by the Facing History and Ourselves course they took in the fall 2005.

Burstein and Casey's teacher, Jean Bennett, described the impact the class has had on students. "The students are engaged in the study of genocide and what conditions are in place that result in intolerance and hatred. Ultimately, we wrestle with the issues of responsibility and community; tolerance and justice; identity, memory and forgiveness. I have had students tell me that it was the most important course in which they enrolled during their high school years."

The Facing History Social Justice Award was presented for the first time in May 2006 to students from Danbury High School whose film The Promise recalls the promise of "never again" made after the Holocaust and draws attention to the ongoing genocide occurring in Sudan. Created in an after school program, with their assistant principal, Tim Salem, The Promise hopes to raise awareness and motivate action against the killings of hundreds of innocent people on a daily basis in Darfur. The film and students from Danbury are among the groups who swayed public opinion resulting in the Connecticut legislature voting to cease investments in companies that have financial interests in Sudan, according to Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier.

"The film says history is not inevitable but about personal and group choices and makes connections to today-just like what happens in a Facing History classroom," said Burstein.

Burstein graduated from Weston High School in May and is taking a year off to help the festival's new leadership. He is also working on his own documentary about encouraging more young people to vote and get politically active.

Visit the WYFF website to learn about the May 2007 festival in Fairfield, Connecticut, and how your students can submit films for this year's Facing History Social Justice Award.

Read the press release from WYTT on Genocide Documentary Wins Youth Film Festival Facing History Award.