Cambridge’s youth film festival is as selective as the universities the city hosts – this year accepting only 3 percent of submissions coming in from around the country.
The 28th annual Do It Your Damn Self!! National Youth Film Festival is this weekend, with a premiere event at the Harvard Art Museums’ Menschel Hall on Friday and a second screening at the Kendall/MIT Open Space on Saturday.
Organized through the Cambridge Community Art Center’s Teen Media Program, Do It Your Damn Self!! is the longest-running youth film festival in the country, with selections curated by a group of Cambridge teens.
They put out a call to teen filmmakers across the United States and the world, and submissions are evaluated by the group, said Lionel Blaise, who manages the Teen Media Program. This year’s DIYDS Crew includes eight Cambridge teens between 14 and 17, who met weekly under Blaise’s supervision to watch and evaluate submissions.
This year, 267 submissions came in, more than double last year’s number, “which was really amazing,” Blaise said.
“It also made it hard, because there were a lot of really, really strong contenders,” Blaise said.
The films can be about any subject so long as they are under 15 minutes and made by teens between 13 and 20 years old. The group especially sought entries in three categories: social justice (exploring politics, diversity, activism, gender, sexuality and race), youth perspectives (on leadership, relationships, family, education and violence) and experimental films (abstract in nature and featuring a perspective not commonly heard from).
Eight of the 267 films were chosen to be part of the festival. One is by a Cambridge teen; the other selected filmmakers hail from California, Colorado, New York, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They span genres and subject matter, from an experimental narrative tackling the theme of mortality to a visual poem exploring mental health.
“I am super excited for people to watch these films, because these are the next generation of filmmakers,” Blaise said. “They have something to say and they have a really strong story to tell and a lot of it is really powerful.”
The festival, which was founded in 1996 by six Cambridge teens who felt misrepresented in the media, has long been supported through partnerships with the Harvard Art Museums and MIT.
The premiere event from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday in Menschel Hall at the Harvard Art Museums includes a screening of the films and a panel discussion with filmmakers, followed by a reception in the Calderwood Courtyard with food and refreshments.
On Saturday, there will be a DJ, food trucks and lawn games outside at Kendall/MIT Open Space from 5 p.m., with the screening beginning at 7 p.m. and the panel discussion with the filmmakers to follow.
“I think the audience will be moved by what they’ll see,” Blaise said. “DIYDS has been around for 29 years … and I’m always left really amazed by what these teens have created.”
The full list of films includes “The Promise of Tomorrow” by Melyna Daghmouri, 18, from Cambridge; “As You Are” by Daria Strachan, 18, from Washington, D.C.; “I Love You More” by Ashur Sattiewhite, 18, from New York City; “Left Hand Man” by Gryphon Magnus, 19, from Alexandria, Virginia; “Not All Heroes” by Connor Strange, 18, from Colorado Springs, Colorado; “Look At Me” by Patrick Jang, 18, from San Diego; “Where I End and You Begin” by Eli Williams, 18, from Tujunga, California; and “The Mechanization of Man” by Eion Nunez, 18, from Los Angeles.
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