The Teen Picks Film Committee brought together a group of local teens who conceived of and planned a three-screening film series from start to finish. Photo by Daniella Zalcman
This special blog post comes to you from Luz Delma Adon, Raquel Rosado, Liza Rosado, and Juwan Stone, who, with Hahillah Ahmed, Brian Bass, Gabrielle (Gabby) Bruno, Carla Hernández, Winona Holderbaum, and Javier Montero served as members of the High Line Teen Film Committee. Together, these local teens worked with staff at Friends of the High Line to curate and produce a free summer film series, called High Line Teen Picks, which took place over the course of three weeks in August, thanks in part to support from AT&T.
Over the course of this project, we were asked many times, “Why did you choose these movies for the film series?”
The High Line itself is a reinvention, built by people who didn’t give up. Teen Picks consisted of different types of movies – a romance, an action flick, and a drama – but even though they differ from one another, each one relates to the High Line. Each movie features underdog characters who never give up on their beliefs and dreams, and that is what the High Line is all about. The High Line was going to be knocked down, but since people believed in it and wanted to make something of it, they fought for it, and today it remains standing.
When we set out to curate Teen Picks, our first task was to select three movies that fit our theme. We started with a selection of 20 movies, but we had to narrow it down. After three months of reviewing the films, we got the list down to the final four: Step Up, The Notebook, Real Steel, and Freedom Writers.
Four movies for only three film screenings. Weird right?
