PSA Online Film Festival

Haydenfilms Institute’s newest public service announcement (PSA) program, the Youth Media Initiative, looks at ways the power of film can be effectively implemented to positively affect the lives of at-risk teens and their local communities. In September 2012, HFI conducted an eight-week PSA workshop for 50 youth from Eastern Pa. Local nonprofit organizations created presentations highlighting their missions and the social issues they combat on a daily basis. The youth then received professional training and mentorship while collaborating in teams to write, direct and shoot 20 PSAs for the local nonprofit organizations. During the spring of 2013, all 20 PSAs will be uploaded to the HFI website, where public viewers can vote for their favorites through the Haydenfilms PSA Online Film Festival. A $10,000 scholarship will be distributed amongst the top three winning PSA groups.

It is HFI’s ultimate goal to provide these teens with the leadership skills, hope, and dreams they will need to succeed, while promoting positive change in their communities. Providing these PSA messages with a global platform will also give these films the opportunity to reach communities at-large suffering from the same social issues and provide an outlet for the voices of the mass to be heard.

Further funding of this program will allow project expansion and opportunities for youth in many other communities to become leaders of change.

• show all
• Council on Chemical Abuse
• Reading Musical Foundation
• Community Prevention Partnership
• Abilities in Motion
• Berks Women in Crisis
• Junior League of Reading
• Junior Achievement
• Berks Gas Truth
• New Journey Food Ministry
• Centro Hispano