Watch out Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, the students at the Baltimore School for the Arts are coming for your job.
This summer, while most teens are lounging by the pool or working to make extra cash, a small group of students from the Baltimore School for the Arts is taking part in a pilot filmmaking program.
"To see how these kids are able to focus and finish that product, that to me has been a really amazing experience," said Thomas Ventimiglia, an English teacher at the BSA.
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Teachers like Ventimiglia are there for guidance and support, the students are taking charge of the entire process. They developed the concepts and scripts, acted in the narratives and documentaries, filmed throughout the city and are now editing the final products.
"One of the great things about this program is the kids have been totally dedicated as possible to the product that they're producing," Ventimiglia said. "They have never complained, they've had 1,000 ideas and it's been a real privilege to work with these kids."
The students also get to take breaks in the filmmaking process by visiting local studios and meeting people who work in the industry, including production staff from the hit Netflix series "House of Cards," which is filmed locally.
"They have a lot of fun but there is a serious side to this that it is a career, you can actually go in this field," said Beatriz Bufrahi, a video instructor at the BSA.
The students are working on two narratives and two documentaries and are expected to complete them in the next two weeks. Once finished, they'll have a showing at the BSA. Bufrahi also said she'd like to enter the films into local and regional film festivals.
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