EPPING, NH – View our community in action through the eyes of local youth during The Granite Youth Alliance Film Festival this year. The events will be held at O’Neil Cinemas in Epping on Sunday June 4 from 4-6 p.m. and Monday June 5 from 5-7 p.m.
The Granite Youth Alliance is a network of youth empowerment teams across the Greater Seacoast Region. The Film Festival is comprised of 12-20 middle or high school youth who meet weekly. They develop films that increase awareness of substance use, develop advocacy skills and opportunities to take action in their schools and communities.
Students engage in a variety of prevention activities including education, policy change, community awareness and media activities. The culminating event of the program is the Granite Youth Film Festival which empowers student leaders to create films that raise awareness about preventable health problems they face in their community.
“These student-made films focus on substance-free living, and how that contributes to healthy minds and healthy bodies,” said Kerry Folkins, Corporate Engagement Director at Granite United Way. “We are proud to be a partner in this effort and look forward to the students showcasing their work.”
Participants in the program experience the full process of film production: budgeting, pitching their idea, making a film, and premiering their film in a theater. These films offer fresh perspectives on igniting change and taking action toward positive youth physical and mental health.
“Youth substance misuse is having a significant impact on communities in the greater seacoast. Granite Youth Alliance is a way for students to take on community-level solutions to the substance misuse problems they face in their schools and communities on a daily basis. Students follow an evidence-based empowerment model where they increase their knowledge about community problems like substance use, develop advocacy skills and take action to create positive change,” said Vicki Harris from the Granite Youth Alliance. “The students engage in a variety of prevention activities including education, policy change, community awareness and media activities.”
The films reveal what local communities or individuals are doing to promote action, offer new solutions, and ignite change.
Sponsors for the event include Kennebunk Savings Bank, Service Credit Union, and Seacoast Public Health Network.
Tickets to the Granite Youth Alliance Film Festival are $10 each and be purchased by visiting https://oneilcinemas.com/epping-nh/movies-tickets/.
For more information, visit www.graniteuw.org or contact Kerry Folkins at Kerry.Folkins@graniteuw.org.
Granite United Way is an experienced and trusted organization dedicated to leveraging the resources of investors and volunteers to create lasting change by addressing the underlying causes of our community’s most pressing needs. United Way’s purpose is to convene public, private, and governmental leaders and resources to tackle the largest, most pressing issues facing our community. Granite United Way fights for the education, health and financial stability of everyone in every community.
