News
Vermont Youth Documentary Lab wins FIRST PLACE for the HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES category at the 2023 FREEDOM & UNITY YOUNG FILMMAKERS CONTEST for our project “Poverty (Vermont)”
Vermont Youth Documentary Lab youth produced “Untitled (Street Art and Public Art in Montpelier)” wins the JAMIE KANZLER AWARD at the Freedom & Unity Filmmakers Contest in White River Junction!
By Linda Radtke
When young people create a “Social Issue Tree” to help them choose a topic for a documentary, what stories emerge? The Vermont Youth Documentary Lab, created by Dave Littlefield and Christopher Wiersema, helps young media makers hone their skills and create films that make a difference. On Saturday afternoons at the Center for Arts and Learning on Barre Street in Montpelier, students work on the final editing of their film exploring attitudes toward street art and graffiti in the capital city.
Water quality on the Winooski River, climate change, food and farming, and the signs in downtown Montpelier also show up as branches of the Social Issue Tree, and perhaps will result in other films, but the two filmmakers, Mira Pompei, a tenth-grade student at Montpelier High School, and Violet Russell, a Twinfield High School senior, have chosen to interview citizens about their views on public art.