Community Access

Program: Arts in Health

Area of Work: Arts

Grant Purpose: Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition

Overview:

Founded in 1974, Community Access is one of the oldest nonprofits in New York City dedicated to helping people with mental health concerns access housing, education, job training and placement, and mental health crisis services. Community Access core programs serve 3,500 of the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable New Yorkers, the majority of whom are from communities of color. In addition to providing direct services, Community Access is also a leading advocacy organization for the rights of people living with mental health concerns. Through anti-stigma initiatives – including the NYC Mental Health Film Festival and the Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition – they shine a positive light on mental health and create safe spaces for people to share their authentic mental health stories.

For young people, mental health challenges can be difficult to navigate – and too many face these challenges alone, fearful of being misunderstood and marginalized. Through sharing and discussing short films about mental health, made by young filmmakers, Changing Minds aims to positively change how we think and talk about youth mental health issues.

Grant:

Purpose: To support the Changing Minds Young Filmmakers Competition and related programs.

Illumination Fund support for the Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition is designed to ramp up this life-affirming initiative in each and effectiveness by engaging more filmmakers from around the world and forming partnerships with other organizations..

Impact:

Illumination Fund support helped Community Access’ Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Competition to rapidly scale up its operations and become the premier, go-to storytelling initiative for young people (ages 15-25). What began as a small competition – with just over a dozen submissions from young filmmakers – has grown into an international program that comprises the filmmaking competition, the Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Festival, a YouTube channel, classroom resources for students, and much more. In 2019, 943 young people from across the U.S. and 82 other countries submitted films to the competition.

Since its inception, Changing Minds has received more than 2,100 films. Community Access also developed a new partnership to bring films and discussion guides into public schools through the Jewish Board’s 100 Schools Project. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illumination Fund helped support the launch of “Changing Minds Film Fridays,” a live weekly event featuring the screening of a Changing Minds film and a live Q&A on Instagram. The pandemic has also caused the 2020 festival to be reimagined, and the Illumination Fund is supporting efforts to host an online event. This first-of-its-kind online event for young filmmakers will include Q&As with filmmakers and be fueled, as ever, by the power of storytelling through film.

2023 Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Festival at Village East Cinema was the first in-person Changing Minds event since 2019, because of the pandemic. Most attendees at this year’s festival were high-school and college-aged students, including young people from several NYC youth-serving organizations:  Hetrick Martin Center, The Door, The LGBTQ Center, Good Shepherd Services, Minds Matter, and Covenant House.

The competition received 1,200 film submissions from teens and young adults ages 15-25 across 62 countries, of which the review committee—headed up by Toby Smith, a 17-year-old high school student from NYC—selected 14 films to be screened at the festival.

The 14 selections were created by young filmmakers from the USA, England, Brazil, and China, and Community Access arranged for 12 of the filmmakers to attend the festival and participate on a panel discussion with audience members.

Here are a just a few of the themes that young people explore in Changing Minds films presented at the 2023 festival:

Inner Workings by filmmakers Cara Davidson/The Shannon Project: In this short film, Cara opens up about her experience with depression and body dysmorphia.  She explores how mental health struggles manifest for others in Generation Z, especially in the wake of the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Lust of the Flesh by filmmaker Maria Gian: An exploration of gluttony and shame through the eyes of a higher power.
Why We Are by filmmaker Karston Singleton: Using theatrical dramatizations, two teenagers attempt to bridge the gaps between those with behavioral health and those without it.
On Top of the World: My Suicide Story by filmmaker Ewan Thomas: A story about struggling with suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideation.

Additional Resources

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