The Producers Project Debuts TPP-TV: New Series on Manhattan Neighborhood Networks Youth Channel Featuring Films By and For New York City Students and Teachers

The Producers Project (TPP) -- a non-profit education corporation that teaches documentary filmmaking to New York City teachers and students as a way to build skills, enhance learning and enrich lives -- is proud to announce the Premier of a new TV Series featuring educational and action-oriented documentaries and interviews by and for a youth audience on Manhattan Neighborhood Network Youth Channel. Over the course of the Series, The Producers Project will screen student-produced films on topics ranging from Truth in the Media and The Evolving Ecology of New York to the Economics of Car Ownership and the Issues of Racism in our Schools and Neighborhoods.

(PRWEB) April 7, 2004 -- The Producers Project (TPP) -- a non-profit education corporation that teaches documentary filmmaking to New York City teachers and students as a way to build skills, enhance learning and enrich lives -- is proud to announce the Premier of a new TV Series featuring educational and action-oriented documentaries and interviews by and for a youth audience.

Over the course of the Series, The Producers Project will screen student-produced films on topics ranging from Truth in the Media and The Evolving Ecology of New York to the Economics of Car Ownership and the Issues of Racism in our Schools and Neighborhoods.

The Series was conceived by TPP founders Wendy Dubit and Yvette DeBow, and is being produced by Christina Goodness, Susan Finley and students participating in The Producers Club. The Producers Club, an extension of TPPs in-school programs, allows graduates to participate in extra-curricular activities that extend their knowledge and skills and that have cultural and/or educational significance.

For more information or to get involved, please contact Producers Project founders Wendy Dubit, 917.334.6925, wendy@theproducersproject.org or Yvette DeBow, 212.977.8815, yvette@theproducersproject.org.

TPP-TV Episode Summaries:

March 22: Alternative Superintendency -- 20 Years of Pioneering. Profiling 10 pioneering schools and programs that serve a diverse universe of students, including:

¨    Auxiliary Services for High Schools: the largest GED prep program in New York City

¨    Baccalaureate School for Global Education: based on International Baccalaureate curriculum

¨    Beacon School: Progressive education program with a focus on Public Service

¨    EBC Bushwick: Community-based school with a focus on Public Service

¨    Hostos-Lincoln Academy: High School on a Community College Campus

¨    Island Academy: Rikers Island education program for incarcerated juveniles

¨    Manhattan International: English-language learner high school for recent immigrants

¨    Mid-Manhattan Learning Center: Adult education program

¨    Robert F Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts & Technology

¨    Satellite Academy: Transfer school providing education opportunities for students age 17 to 21

April 5: Rapmatics and To Drive or to Ride? Doing the Math. Math made real, vibrant and memorable through poetry, rap, and filmmaking.

Produced by Derek Phillips, featuring students from Public School Repertory Company, and filled with catchy rap music, lively dancing and fundamental math concepts, Rapmatics is a motivational video that gets students excited about math and helps them understand the importance of math in school, careers and everyday life. In To Drive or Ride? Doing the Math!, students from Robert F Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts & Technology and Satellite Academy analyze the economics of car ownership versus public transportation. They measure their own travel routes in terms of mileage and time; investigate costs of car purchasing, leasing, insurance, and maintenance; compare these to the costs (in time and money) of public transportation; interview an array of experts and people on the street; and wonder where you weigh in.

April 19: The Evolving Ecology of New York and Living with the River. Studying and honoring the New York environment and our Hudson.

After an overview of our inter-connectedness -- personal, environmental, evolutionary and more -- students from Baccalaureate School for Global Education, Robert F Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts & Technology and Satellite Academy chose to do a documentary on The Evolving Ecology of New York. They researched the flora, fauna, landscape and humanscape of Manhattan from glacial times through present; traveled to and interviewed experts at The American Museum of Natural History, The New York Historical Society, The New York Botanical Garden, The New York Times and more. They analyzed, for better and worse, human impact on and our responsibility for this evolving environment. And they determined that education is the key to caring about, co-existing with, preserving and stewarding our natural resources. In Living with The River, students from West Side High School examine The Hudson Rivers environmental health as well as its economic and social importance. They determined the health of the Hudson through water quality testing, experimentations and identification of plant and animal species; studied and documented the rivers past, present, present and future; made environmental observations and recommendations; and interviewed experts from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Coalition for a Livable West Side, the Hudson River Project and more.

May 3: Media and the Truth, exploring what constitutes truth in these turbulent times.

As part of The Producers Projects first pilot program, 12 students from an array of Alternative High Schools examined major local, national and global events as the backdrop against which they found and expressed their own visions, voices and viewpoints. They reflected on and interviewed experts and the public about where we get our news and whether we can trust all that what we read, see and hear. A year and a half after the documentarys Summer 2002 debut, the subject proves even more relevant and compelling. Join The Producers as they interview Marc Kusnetz and Danny Schechter, two friends who contributed to the original film and who have since written diametrically opposed books -- Operation Iraqi Freedom and Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception. Then, weigh in with your thoughts.

May 17: Life in Space. Students examine the fundamentals of life, and whether we can someday sustain it in space.

In Summer 2002, 11 students from an array of Alternative High Schools undertook successive levels of inquiry and discovery from My Space" to Outer Space." From intensive exploration and with extensive research and interviews, they produced a provocative and fact-filled documentary, Life in Space, in which they declared Mars as the planet most likely to have sustained, and to someday sustain, life. That was before NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars, stunning us with pictures from the planet, and supporting what The Producers knew to be true. Join The Producers as they interview noted astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson of The American Museum of Natural History anew...and get a whole new view of what Mars and space exploration can teach us about earth, the universe and ourselves.

May 31: We Are NYC -- The City As We See It. Issue-oriented documentaries by and discussions with students from Lower East Side Prep.

New York City is one of the most amazing, difficult, beautiful, challenging, rewarding cities in the world. It is a city with a history unlike any other, and one of the most diverse populations on earth. In its past lurk seedy politics, riots, violence and clashes, as well as physical beauty, magnificent heroes, some of the worlds most famous artists, and an unparalleled uniqueness. In three moving and compelling vignettes, students of Lower East Side Prep tell their stories, and invite your involvement, as they cover such topics as Immigration, Trash in the Subways, and Racism in Schools.

June 14: The Producers Club.

The Producers Club was launched in order to provide ongoing skill-building, media-making, educational, cultural and career opportunities to students who have participated in accredited in-school Producers Project programs. Join The Producers as they participate in and cover such events as the Tribeca Film Festival (www.tribecafilm.com), National Book Awards (www.nationalbook.org) and The Trendsetters Conference for Nontraditional Careers (www.trendsettersnetwork.org). Go behind the scenes and into the making of documentaries, PSAs and TPP-TV. Find out what it takes to be a Producer...and how you can become one. Be inspired to produce something!