What if I Can...

Tonight was the first event we've done as part of Bringing Cinema 2 Kids...and I'm happy to say it went really well.  The event was at Gertz High School, which is a public charter school that aims to provide opportunities to inner city kids to prepare the students for success on the college level. 

I arrived with my friend Sam who came along to take pictures & video (we'll be posting soon) and to support the event.  We were met by Lex, who is the site coordinator for LA Allstars...(let me take a second to explain this better...LA Allstars is an organization that partners with local schools to provide after school programs in different areas...sports, health, fitness, arts, etc.  We contacted them first and they helped us get a screening of 'Dada Ji' together at Gertz).  Hope that makes sense...anyway, so Lex was the site coordinator at this school. 

She took us to the classroom, where there were about 40-50 high school kids (great turnout), curious as to what we were doing there.  Before we screened the movie, I introduced myself and then got everyone talking about what their "dream" in life was....

Someone said basketball player, someone said football player, someone else said pilot, somebody else said his dream was to make enough money so his parents could retire, someone else said broadcast journalist, someone else said actress...and someone said they didn't know.

And I said that's okay.  I didn't know either when I was in high school.  But it wasn't about not knowing, it was about being too afraid to have a dream.  Like, I would imagine in my mind I want to do something, and the next thought is, "But what if I can't do that?"  And every single person in the world has a voice in their head that says that to them.  BUT, the people who overcome it, learn to think, "But what if I can?" 

And if you learn to think that way, it's the only way you ever will achieve that which you want.

So then we screened 'Dada Ji'.  That was my favorite part.  During the movie, as a group, the kids would laugh at certain comedic points, and soak in the dramatic points.  For a filmmaker, there is no better compliment than to watch your movie in a room full of people that like it :) 

At the end of the screening after the credits rolled & lights came up, we did a brief Q&A, passed everyone a copy of the 'Dada Ji' DVD, and before they left, the students put their hands in the air and were snapping their fingers.  And, as Lex put it, that means "they're giving you props."

So, Lex, Fred, Froggy, Fluffy, Bones, Xynthia with an X, Shadow, and everyone that was at the screening today, I give you snaps right back.  Thanks for letting me come to your school & share 'Dada Ji' with you today, ...may you always believe in the possibilities of "what if I can...."