To achieve racial balance at Ravenswood High School in the 70s, some African American students were assigned to be bused out, while white students could choose to voluntarily transfer in. Teacher Phil Arnot made the The Ravenswood Experience to try to recruit more students to transfer in, but the numbers of numbers declined and the student body shrank. By 1976, East Palo Alto’s only public high school was closed.
Though roughly made, if we read between the lines, the film provides a rare historical window into student life in this still controversial episode.
Documentary about responses to hunger, set in East Palo Alto’s Ecumenical Hunger Program (EHP). This film profiles Nevida Butler, director of the Ecumenical Hunger Program; Donna Laurreano, a resident, EHP client, and former community worker now facing hunger herself; and Dr. Maxine Hayes, of the Physicians Task Force on Hunger. The film explores individual and community responsibilities to address hunger in the United States. Produced by Nancy Brink.
Thursday 7/17, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday, 7/19, 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 7/23, 7pm on Channel 28
In a city lacking a public high school for 20 years, the private Eastside College Preparatory opened in 1996 with only eight students and without a campus. Through the efforts of founders, parents and students, the school now has a 100% high school graduation rate in a community where a very large number of students do not finish high school. Eastside has been recognized nationally for its success.
Produced by Meredyth Wilson.
The Young Media Activist Crew (YMAC) are the students in the Digital Video course in OICW’s School After School For Successful Youth (SASSY). The students learn not only videography and editing, but also how to use filmmaking to take a deeper look into their own lives and their changing community. Channel 27 will show three volumes of YMAC films, reflecting the three years of the program's existence under the guidance of instructor Van Nguyen. Using forms from the personal essay to social documentary exploration to scripted drama, YMAC offers a new channel to hear the challenges, concerns and hopes of youth east of the Bayshore freeway..
YMAC volume 1 features two documentaries and Lil’ Paypa, a poetic reflection by sixteen-year-old Sanipepa Malimali and instructor Van Nguyen that would later inspire Pepa's Fight, an hour-long piece produced for Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Network.
Thursday 24, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday 24 , 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 30, 7pm on Channel 28
Features documentaries and personal film essays on friendship, self-esteem and life in East Palo Alto.
Features films on youth and art, coming of age and a poetry-driven manifesto on East Palo Alto identity.
Thursday 7/31, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday, 8/2, 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 8/6, 7pm on Channel 28
This personal documentary follows Won Choi, owner/operator of House of Wigs in the former Whiskey Gulch, through the eyes of her niece, Elizabeth Choe. As Ms. Choi seeks a new location in the face of imminent relocation, her niece observes and questions, trying to better understand her aunt who has spent over 25 years at this site. The film shows the close bonds that have developed between Won Choi and her customers, who are primarily African American women. House of Wigs becomes more than a store as the deeply religious Won prays with her customers and offers counsel and solace for the problems they bring her. In the age of the globalized franchise, Her Promised Home reminds us, in Won’s words, that “Its not just business and money, its people, really.” Produced by Elizabeth Choe.
Thursday 8/7, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday, 8/9, 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 8/13, 7pm on Channel 28
This is a portrait of the last days of Whiskey Gulch before its demolition. The film moves in and out of local storefront businesses and nonprofits gathering testimonies on the bittersweet nature of change. Although redevelopment will bring much needed economic benefits to the City of East Palo Alto and eliminated a blighted and trouble-prone area, there is a sense of community and connectedness that will also disappear as well. Over the Ramp was commissioned by TheatreWorks as a lobby presentation to accompany a production of playwright August Wilson’s searing classic Fences. Both have themes about the losses that occur in the face of growth and change. Produced by Michael Levin for TheatreWorks for Schools.
Thursday 8/14, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday, 8/16, 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 8/20, 7pm on Channel 28
African American Vietnam veteran John Shed’s solitary life working the South Bay salt ponds is thrown asunder when his Amerasian daughter arrives from Vietnam in the critically acclaimed independent feature, Dumbarton Bridge. With a Coltrane-laced jazz score, Dumbarton Bridge uses Whiskey Gulch, the Ravenswood Open Space Preserve and the East Bay salt works as backdrops to a moody, emotionally charged story,
Thursday 8/21, 9pm on Channel 27
Saturday 8/23, 2pm on Channel 27
Wednesday 8/27, 7pm on Channel 28
(Note: Weeks 9 and 10 are not scheduled yet.)