Spotlight On: Media That Matters

Region: Washington Statewide
Investment: $225,000 over three years
URL: www.reelgrrls.org

Reel Grrls

The Challenge

The Foundation’s experience in the youth media field has shown us that engagement, self-confidence, experiential skill building, and learning can intensify rather than end at the completion of the school day. Youth media has a transformational, dynamic, and widespread impact on young people. However, it is a field predominantly serving young men.

Very few role models exist for young women. Only 3% of all of the cinematographers in Hollywood are women. A woman has never won an Academy Award for Film Directing. Reel Grrls has come on the scene to change all that.

What They’re Doing

Reel Grrls is the premier all-girl, year-round media program in the country. It provides the opportunity for young women from diverse communities to realize their talent, power, and influence through media production.

Reel Grrls gave me the ground to stand on and know myself for the first time as a real filmmaker. And I haven’t wavered a bit.

Tenzin Mingyur Paldron, Reel Grrls graduate and filmmaker

By giving young women the skills to evaluate media messages and the technical capacity to create their own, Reel Grrls facilitates the ability of these young women to produce their own stories and visions of themselves. Each year, 100 young women go through the program and graduate with valuable skills in video, audio, and web production. Upon completion, the young women present their videos at public screenings, film festivals and via television broadcasts.

The Results

During the eight-year history of Reel Grrls, they have developed an internationally acclaimed program that has been showcased as an exemplar in the field. Their student productions have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival Gen-Y studio, the Hong Kong, Korean, and Hamptons International Film Festivals, the San Diego Film Festival, and many others.

With some members of its first graduating class now studying media arts in college, Reel Grrls continues to grow. Its partnerships now extend to schools, local nonprofits, and municipal agencies.