N Phila History Project at The Village
August 31, 2008
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BEIRUT BOYS TRAILER documentary film work-in-progress
August 4, 2008
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Join Ourstage from Aug. 1st to the Sept. 30th and we receive $4 for every new member!
July 30, 2008
Producer/Director Eugene Martin’s film, The Other America, has won a slot in a national competition in the From Here to Awesome Film Festival. As part of the releasing of the film, Ourstage is offering $4 to the filmmakers for every new person who registers at their site. Just follow the “Join Now” link below!
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N Phila History Project July 2008 Francisville (1)
July 24, 2008
We did a shoot today in Francisville, and found two amazing women to interview for the project.
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N- Phila History Project
July 19, 2008
Still from July 16th, 2008 on Jessup St.
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N. Phila. History Project Shoot July 10th, 2008
July 11, 2008
We just filmed two interviews in Fairhill on July 10th. This one was fllmed just off 10th St. near Cumberland.
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North Phila. History Project started!
June 20, 2008
Linda 2 - N- Phila- History Project June 2008, originally uploaded by eugenemartin.
We just completed today the first interviews for the North Philadelphia History Project, where we will interview 50 women across 4 generations. This project is initially sponsored by the Office of the Provost at Temple University. The outcomes of this work will be threefold - we will create a one hour documentary show, a play based on the material gathered, and a book. The production team is led by Professors Eugene Martin and Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon.
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Norm shows me his videos he made June 2008
June 11, 2008
In 3 days, Norm self taught himself how to shoot and edit music videos. He created 3 dynamic music videos with his group, Block Huggahs, all on his own. He used an old digital 8mm video camera, an old blueberry mac tower, and iMovie to create the videos. His motivation to tell his story through music and art is inspiring!
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Norm with the Block Huggahs
June 2, 2008
Norm with the Block Huggahs, originally uploaded by eugenemartin.
Norm (in front) has stepped up and will be the main subject of the Beirut Boys movie Year Two. Derrick Toler’s part in the film just had its community screening this past weekend at The Reel theater at Temple University. The boys from Beirut showed up in t-shirts with the name of the movie across the front. it was one of the first times that they had decided to attend a youth media screening, and it was a huge success. They saw their lives portrayed on screen in a very realistic and authentic manner. The form of video diaries in the hands of young people is a powerful way to reach this kind of audience. The making of my film Bloodlines has been an amazing entry point into the world of inner city youth. Lessons learned from the experience of making Bloodlines I think could be applied to working with youth in all types of areas since many young people are not given a strong voice with video and digital media outside of the typical social networks.
The lessons learned from Bloodlines are being applied across gender, race, age, and neighborhood to help young people tell their stories through video diaries, rap music, spoken word poetry, and cinema verite style documentary filmmaking for audiences internationally.
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Derrick and Dasha work together
May 20, 2008
Derrick and Dasha. brother and sister, work together on the newest video at The Village. Each has been taking video classes at The Village for over 3 years. They now work together, in addition to going to school, on collaborative video projects after school 3 days a week.
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El and Derrick working together
May 19, 2008
Mentoring young filmmakers is an important step in empowering them to become young leaders. Derrick and El have known each other now for over 5 years. That relationship has led to Derrick and El co-directing their own PBS show, The Beirut Boys. Derrick’s peers respect him for his work as a filmmaker, and they have responded by asking to participate in an expansion of the project to continue filming for two more years. Myself, El, and the young people in Fairhill, North Philadelphia are excited about this next big set of steps for the project, because it shows, from the inside, the point of view of African American Youth.
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Dasha shoots, May 2008
May 17, 2008
Here is Dasha Toler, a teen director at work on her newest short narrative.
Dasha has stepped up and is becoming a very strong filmmaker, leading her peers through script workshops, casting, shooting and editing of a short narrative film every 12 to 14 weeks. Youth media is far more empowering when the teens themselves do all the tasks involved in creative produciton.
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Think about the children
May 14, 2008
thank about the children, originally uploaded by eugenemartin.
I found this scene today in North Philadelphia, and I think its quite relevant to why I made Bloodlines. Despite what the media reports, people really do care deeply about the plight of children in the inner city despite the constant barrage of negative press these areas receive every night on the evening news.
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Eugene Martin blogs about his film, The Bloodlines Video Diary Project
May 12, 2008
I’m starting a blog that will document and discuss the journey of screening and releasing my documentary film, The Bloodlines Video Diary Project. I started this website as I was completing the film. We just had our premeire at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. We had two very full screenings, and the two young diarists and subjects of the film, Dennis and Ebony, were there to present the film.
In a new direction from previous films I have made, which ran a traditional route of film festival screenings then limited theatrical and video releases, I have decided to pursue the internet and the exciting possiblities new media releasing can offer a film like Bloodlines. Young audiences (and some older ones too!) are connecting to films, tv shows, and music first through their social networking and on-line communities. With this in mind, I am preparing to document over the next year the process of taking out Bloodlines via the on-line world. Along the way I will share stories, experiences, and lessons learned along the way.
Eugene
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35mm on 12th St-
April 20, 2008
Here we are working on a 35mm film shoot with some of the Beirut Boys from 12th St.
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New Book available on the Community Media Class
April 14, 2008
click here to link directly to the Blurb Site!
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Two Reviews of Bloodlines right before the World Premiere!
April 3, 2008
Here are links to articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer and The City Paper about Bloodlines ahead of Saturday’s World Premiere screening.
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Trailer for Bloodlines for the From Here to Awesome film festival
March 31, 2008
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Article about the premeire of Bloodlines
March 26, 2008
Here is a great article about the World Premiere of Bloodlines. Click here.
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The Bloodlines Video Diary Project will have its’ World Premiere April 5th!!!
March 11, 2008
The documentary will premiere to the Philadelphia Film Festival at International House, 37th and Chestnut Sts., on Saturday April 5th at 7pm and at The Prince Theater on Sat April 12th at 2:30pm. Filmed over the entire school year of 2005-2006, and into 2007, the documentary chronlices the lives of Dennis Midiri and Ebony Graves. Dennis and Ebony each filmed video diaries for the 2005-06 school year, and helped select scenes that are included in the film. Purchase tickets here!
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NEWS: Derrick Toler completes tv show for Ch. 35 Independence Media
June 21, 2007
Derek Toler and El Sawyer and Eugene Martin have delivered their half our television documentary, The Beirut Boys to WYBE TV35..
As a preview, here is Derrick Toler, age 18, performing an original spoken word poem on his corner at 12th and Huntington Sts. in North Philadelphia. 
Derek Toler Spoken Word Diary - click here to play the video clip
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Poetry at The Village
June 21, 2007
Here is a video by Sophie Martin that shows the Spoken Word class at the teen after school program at The Village.
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Filmmaker and Professor.
