Native-youth films in SIFF spotlight

It's called "fly filmmaking" — or making films on the fly. Put another way, it's what happens when you bring 35 youths together, give them cameras and a script and ask them to produce a short film in less than two days.

Starting Thursday night, the young actors and filmmakers, ages 13 to 18, will converge on Skagit County's Swinomish Reservation to shoot and produce four interpretations of a script written for the event by Native American author Sherman Alexie.

The four films will then screen at Seattle's Egyptian Theater at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, kicking off the Seattle International Film Festival's (SIFF) FutureWave youth series. The FutureWave series showcases original live action, animated and documentary films up to 20 minutes long, all made by youths 18 and under; one film will be honored with the WaveMaker Award for artistic and technical achievement, including a $500 cash prize.

That SIFF is including the project as part of its prestigious program is significant, says Annie Silverstein, artistic director of project sponsor Longhouse Media. The Seattle-based nonprofit, funded mostly by the Swinomish tribe, fosters digital media and arts opportunities for youth, especially Native American kids.

"The fact that they picked us to host the first fly filmmaking project for youth is important, because it's showing they trust the work we're doing as being at the forefront of the youth-media wave," Silverstein says.

The fly filmmaking event echoes a similar event last year involving Native American youths from five Washington tribes and marking the one-year anniversary of Native Lens, a six-month film program run by Longhouse that teaches Native American youths to tell their stories through film. Native Lens was recently awarded National Geographic's All Roads seed grant for films by and about indigenous groups and underrepresented cultures.

This year's fly filmmakers are more diverse, including African-American, Latino, Asian and white students; most are from Washington state but others are coming in from California and Illinois. All applied for the chance to be part of the project, answering questions about their filmmaking experience and the representation and role of youth in the media.

Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com