(bright music plays) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the Friends of Minnesota Experience.

(soulful music plays) - [Tim] Roller skating was my big thing.

And I said, "Can I take a camera out to the Roller Garden and make a movie?".

To be a 15 year old and make a film?

Everybody looked good in a pair of polyesters.

(laughs) ♪ And squeezing and kissing and pleasing ♪ ♪ Together forever, through ever whatever ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You and me ♪ ♪ From now on ♪ ♪ From now on yeah ♪ Cause a lot of bad things was going on at home.

And every day I went to school, I got beat up.

But when I went to Film in the Cities, (drums play) none of that mattered.

I was like in a different world.

♪ Ooh child ♪ ♪ Things are gonna get easier ♪ (movie projector sound effect plays) ♪ Ooh child ♪ - [Rick] What we wanted to do is use film as an opportunity for young people to discover how they see.

- [Tom] If we could provide some access to equipment, provide some access to training, young people could really make a difference in their own lives, and in their own education.

- [Paul] Kids just don't feel like they have a voice.

And Film Cities gave us a voice.

- [Dianne] And I think that's where we got the films that give you innocence and joy and experimentation and camaraderie and respect.

Because we found that with one another.

♪ Ooh child ♪ ♪ Things'll be brighter ♪ (movie projector sound effect plays) ♪ Ooh child ♪ ♪ Things are gonna be easier ♪ ♪ Ooh child things'll get brighter ♪ - [Host] The Tonight Show!

(horns play) - [Tom] When we started Film in the Cities, I think a dream that we all had, the idea that you, as an individual could make a film, that you could own a camera.

- [CBS Announcer] This is the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite.

- Good evening.

- It's a little hard right now to think about what it means to be in a situation where information was coming from broadcast media, exclusively, it was coming from feature films.

You would get some documentary work on the news.

And also that photography was primarily in the hands of print journalism and newspapers.

So those were the streams of information that came toward us.

- [Narrator] American soldiers, hiking their way through the sweaty jungles of south Vietnam, searching for an elusive enemy.

- [Melinda] We were seeing the Vietnam war come through television and becoming much more aware of media, not as the truth teller or the story, but that it could be manipulated or you could be manipulated by it.

- Peace now!

Peace now!

Peace now!

- And people also were beginning to challenge the establishment of how images were made, who made those images, and also what they looked like.

One of the big problems was that you couldn't get tools, and you couldn't get knowledge, and you couldn't get information.

Film was a whole nother thing.

That seemed really somewhat impossible.

- If you didn't have access to that equipment, you really weren't able to participate in the same way.

(upbeat music plays) - [Tom] During the 1960s, the advent of small handheld 16 millimeter equipment, people were beginning to think about this as a communication tool.

- [Sheryl] And then the transition of course, Super 8 films.

- Suddenly you had this fabulous new medium where you could just pop the cartridge right in.

- Pop it in, and turn it on.

And then I would frame up and focus and then start shooting.

- And it felt possible.

- It was just sort of a time where we could create a new future.

(movie projector sound effect plays) (guitar plays) - [Tom] As a graduate student, I was at Saint Cloud State University.

A number of us who were very active in the anti-war movement.

We were also very active in thinking about education.

So, the St. Paul arts and science center was a collection of really interesting artists.

They had a beautiful building in St. Paul.

Susan Anderson in particular was the head of the education department.

She got ahold of me and she said the St. Paul public schools were thinking about these learning centers that they were gonna develop.

And they wanted a bit of a pilot, something that they thought wasn't gonna be too dangerous and too big.

And I thought this might be quite exciting for the students to come out of school, come to a working studio environment, make movies, work with photography.

Simultaneously that fall, Urban Arts started in Minneapolis.

And we worked up a contract with the Minneapolis public schools that I would also, through Urban Arts, get some kids in the afternoons.

(upbeat music plays) Actually, Susan Anderson came up with the name for the organization Film in the Cities.

And it was perfect because it was about making film, but it was about in the city.

So it was about going out into the community.

And within a month I knew we had a school.

(upbeat music plays) - [Paul] And that really is where I think, where the genius of Film in the Cities was born.

And it was almost born, completely, fully evolved.

(rhythmic music plays) (upbeat music plays) Rick Weise came on that fall.

We had met actually in college.

But we came into this space and everything was happening at the same time.

We were literally building tables, we were building animation stands, we were painting walls, we were trying to figure out how to set up a little editing area.

- [Rick] He says, "What are you doing?".

And I says, "Oh, just moved from Minneapolis.

What are you doing?".

He says, "Well, I've just been hired to start this film program".

He said, "Why don't you come and teach film with me?".

And I said, "Nah, I only made one film.

I don't know enough about filmmaking to teach filmmaking".

He said, "Well, come and help me build cabinets".

And one thing led to another.

And pretty soon, I think it was within a month or so, I was teaching film.

(laughs) And I knew how to work with kids.

Before I got my degree, I taught a year at Jordan Junior High School in north Minneapolis.

- [Dianne] I studied to be a teacher.

I went to Film in the Cities to do a summer program and they liked my work, and so I stayed.

- [Tom] We had this access to students, we had a place to work, we had a little bit of equipment, and we were kind of off and running.

(upbeat disco music plays) ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Get up, get up ♪ ♪ Let's boogie all ♪ ♪ The boogie's back again ♪ ♪ For the boogie there is no beginning ♪ ♪ And there is no end ♪ - [Tom] I think what's important about the medium is that throughout my entire career, it's been this constant language that I've worked with and many, many incredibly talented and dedicated students that I've had the honor to work with have seen it as something that they could embrace.

Embracing freedom, embracing creativity, embracing their own sense of identity in a way that we felt that hadn't been done before.

♪ Feel it, down, its on ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Pop your fingers ♪ ♪ It's the boogie y'all ♪ ♪ Get down ♪ ♪ Got to feel it ♪ ♪ The spirit ♪ ♪ Of the boogie ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ ♪ Come on now ♪ - [Molly] It was just eye opening and wonderful.

And you get to go into, through the kids, not literally into, but because the films come back into a culture or a group of people that you would never have known.

One little boy came back and he had his film.

And I said, "Gosh, is that your grandmother?".

He said, "Yeah".

I said, "Is she making menudo?".

And the kid's face just lit up, you know?

(laughs) (light-hearted music plays) ♪ I'm walking down the highway ♪ ♪ Not paying for the centering sun ♪ ♪ Not thinking about what's behind me ♪ ♪ Not thinking about the things I've done ♪ ♪ And interested in my vocation ♪ ♪ And know I've had my fill ♪ ♪ Don't give me no aggravations ♪ - [Sam] "Let's All Go To Hell" where there's all these magic tricks that are happening and using these bikes to crash into things.

I think there's even a shot of a bicycle, like dropping off of the Washington Avenue bridge.

I think Film in the Cities was part of their vision.

Absolutely take this camera to where you go to school, capture your friends, and capture how you make each other laugh, and celebrate those connections.

- They were very willing to let us discover our own vision.

(suspenseful music plays) - [Dianne] We created a lot of exercises that gave them opportunities to speak with images, speak to one another and speak with a voice of authority as young people.

(crowd cheering) (man laughing) (movie projector sound effect plays) - [Tom] Pretty clear right away that initially, the public school saw this is a place where they could just offload kids that they didn't want.

And my feeling was bring 'em on.

These are exactly the kids we wanted to work with.

(people talking indistinctly) - [Rick] We weren't naive about who we were getting.

Some kids came from very, very difficult environments and some didn't.

(people talking indistinctly) - And we worked very hard to have this mix of people and this mix of individuals with a lot of different backgrounds coming together, all with this goal of making films.

- It was an integration plan or part of an integration plan.

- [Tom] These programs, like Film the Cities, was a direct response to looking for alternatives for busing.

That was one of many things they were trying to accomplish with that.

There was a great racial diversity within the students who we worked with.

There was a great gender diversity with the students that we worked with.

- [Paul] Well, I went to the, my neighborhood high school in Northeast Minneapolis, and I had a really good counselor.

He invited me down and said, "Hey, there's a program, it's called Urban Arts.

There's a film component.

And you might be interested if you wanted to do it.

We think that would be a good thing for you".

And then I had to go for my interview, which was over at the Pillsbury House over by the Art Institute.

When I peeked in the room, I could see the person, and there he was, he was, you know, cross legged on the floor, it was Tom DeBiaso.

And just the coolest guy, and so welcoming.

"Come on in.

You know, I wanna try to see what you wanna do.

I hear you wanna make movies".

He very much really respected kids.

And he was really an artist.

- [Tom] I would do a little interview with the students asking if they wanted to come, but mostly if they were interested, I wanted them to come.

- One of the really great things about Film in the Cities is that you met kids from all over the cities, not just from your school and your environment.

(kids laughing) - [Danielle] I was in high school and I was interested in leaving the school for the afternoon.

So that was fine with me.

(laughs) So they sent me to Film in the Cities.

- [Tom] Let's try to come up with some, some new kind of things that we can do with the class.

- The first film I made was more a process.

I used a actress.

It was one of the girls who went to the dance school.

- Danielle Fredrickson, "Herself".

That one really stood out to me.

The soundtrack was really wonderful and unexpected.

Definitely playing with a frame rate and how it shot.

It seemed like either the camera was on the intervalometer, a time lapse feature.

- [Danielle] It's held open rather than closed.

So there's trails, it's a technique, I think it's probably pretty common today.

She did a performance and it's really just about the movement.

- You know, we weren't there to tell them how to do anything really.

They hadn't ever done it, I'm quite sure.

These were just the right age to be perked up by something and go with it.

As a woman there, I felt, especially for the girls, I could warm up to them a lot.

And Rick and Tom and Dianne, they seem to have something wonderful figured out.

- I like inventiveness.

And I think people know when you are inventing something to bring them in.

Especially young people.

They're very acute observers and critics.

- [Sheryl] So there was the part of, you know, sort of building your own curriculum in order to learn what you wanted to learn.

And that was the energy of that time.

I think that was coming out of the movement, sort of a redefining educational process in this country and all of the things that were evolving in it, you know, in the late 60s into the 70s.

- We could do like a miniature underwater class.

Like if there's two or three people that want to shoot film underwater.

(people talking indistinctly) - Huh?

Yeah.

Flores bring down his a aquarium.

- [Man] Yeah, Marty will handle the underwater class.

- Here's the thing about that whole process, we would go in there and we would learn how basically to, you know, familiar, we were familiar with the tools, right?

They really gave us a wonderful background on visual language, long before visual thinking strategies and things like that.

Film in the Cities was really working out ways to have us just look at things differently.

- [Lynn] The teachers there were so, I mean, they weren't that much older than us, and they were just cool.

- Cool.

- Yeah.

(women laugh) - [Molly] When I arrived, I think just that first day, that kind of respect that the teachers were giving to the seventh graders, I thought, "Whoo, yeah."

(guitar music plays) Dianne and Tom, these are inspiring people.

And I learned so much from them.

Rick Weise was certainly one of the greatest teachers I've ever met.

- [Rick] Real radical education literature was first coming out.

And I had read everything I could get my hands on.

We had a two week period that we called the disorientation program.

And it was to make students think differently about what education was and what teachers were like.

And also what does film even mean?

There were two students who didn't buy into the disorientation program.

(slow guitar music plays) And you know, I kept trying to coax them in.

Nada, they wanted no part of it.

I said, "Well, do you have an idea for what kind of film you'd like to make?

And shrugged.

I said, "Why don't you just go and you get off the bus, come and check in with one of the teachers and then just take off for the rest of the two hours and hang out downtown, and see whether there's anything that catches your eye, that makes you think that this could be something.

And then one day they came in and they were just bouncing, you know.

"What's going on, guys?".

They said, "We know what our film is gonna be".

I said, "Cool, what is it?".

And they said, "We wanna make a film about bums".

I said, "You mean the homeless guys that are hanging out downtown?".

They said, "Yeah".

They said, "But we're gonna need a camera with a really long lens.

So we can shoot across the street.

I said, "Well, everybody sees them from across the street.

That's not gonna tell us anything.

Why don't you not take a camera and just go and hang out with them.

And then after you feel comfortable with each other, and they're no longer skiddish around you, tell them that you'd like to make a, that you're students, a and you'd like to make a movie for your class.

(soft piano music plays) And they came back and they put together this really extraordinary film.

It's one of the best films that were made.

(people talking indistinctly) (strong soulful music plays) - [Dianne] I feel that that film is quite respectful.

An authentic representation of giving young people power to see what they see.

- [Rick] I mean, these films, some of them are almost 50 years old, and they feel like they could have been made yesterday.

The sense that you were viewing something that was important to the students who made it, that really still felt urgent to me.

(upbeat music plays) - In the second year, we were able to raise a little bit more money and get some more support and rented a big storefront.

490 North Robert Street.

It was a beautiful space.

It was a couple thousand square foot warehouse space, there was a mezzanine in it.

- I was probably 18 when I got hired to be like, just the gopher for Film in the Cities.

Then there was the meeting when we were getting ready for the next year.

And we were talking about what rules and stuff we were gonna play.

And Paco said, "Well, you know, if Paul's not getting the same money as the rest of us, then I'm gonna feel pretty bad".

So at 19, I got that job.

Then I was the guy interviewing the kids.

The other person that came along in that big, that big hiring I was part of too, was Jim Dozier.

He was the photographer.

We are so young, by the way, we were just little kids actually, but Jim came and he had another great skill.

I think they loved him for his photography, but he could also build stuff.

- [Tom] We built a space out ourselves.

So we painted it, we built our tables, we built editing rooms, we built sound rooms, we built a classroom.

- [Dianne] And then you went up some stairs and that was the animation cove.

And there were a couple of animation stands that we built.

- [Tom] We eventually built dark rooms and this kind of grassroots facility started to take shape.

- We had screening room that we built across from the stairs.

The screening room had a fake fireplace in it, which was hilarious.

There was a community space where we held the initial, "Hello, how are you?

Let's see what everybody's working on".

Couches all around.

- [Danielle] Wasn't a classroom situation.

It was the kind of, kind of, I guess, kind of hippie like.

They had some sofas in one area.

Then there was an editing room in the back.

I remember that.

- [Dianne] And then downstairs, we also had the sound studio.

- This is a french film.

- This is a french film.

- [Tim] It was great.

I always loved cameras.

And then Dianne, our teacher, pulled me to the side and said, "Is it okay for you to be coming down here?

Do they know?".

I said, "Nope."

I said, "They got me over here at this other, other learning center and I don't want to be there.

This is where I want to be.

So she went in her office and made a phone call and said, "Well, you're here now".

I said, "Good".

- He was animated.

He was entertaining.

He was a burst of energy.

And he also had vision.

- Dianne said that we have to do a project.

You know, we gotta do a film.

(upbeat music plays) And roller skating was my big thing.

And I said, "Can I take a camera out to the Roller Garden and make a movie?

She said, "Yeah."

- [Dianne] And so we gave him the equipment.

We gave him the film.

We trusted him, as we should have, as we did.

And I thought he made an amazing film.

- [Tim] If you see it, it's so natural.

The song, "This Will Be" by Natalie Cole was actually the song that was playing.

So I said, "Well, you know what, that's what's going on here.

Cause I want it all to be natural and just perfect.

♪ This will be ♪ ♪ An everlasting love ♪ ♪ This will be ♪ ♪ The one I've waited for ♪ ♪ This will be ♪ ♪ The first time anyone has loved me ♪ ♪ I'm so glad ♪ ♪ You found me in time ♪ ♪ And I'm so glad that ♪ ♪ You rectified my mind ♪ ♪ This will be ♪ ♪ An everlasting love for me ♪ ♪ Loving you ♪ ♪ Is some kind of wonderful ♪ ♪ Because you showed me ♪ ♪ Just how much you care ♪ ♪ You've given me ♪ ♪ The thrill of a lifetime ♪ ♪ And made me believe you've got more thrills to spare, oh ♪ ♪ This will be ♪ ♪ An everlasting love ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, it will now ♪ ♪ You brought a lot of a sunshine in to my life ♪ ♪ You filled me with happiness I never knew ♪ ♪ You gave me more joy than I ever dreamed of ♪ ♪ And no one, no one can take the place of you ♪ ♪ This will be you and me ♪ ♪ Yes, siree ♪ ♪ Eternally ♪ ♪ Hugging and squeezing ♪ ♪ And kissing and pleasing ♪ ♪ Together forever ♪ ♪ Through rain or whatever ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah you and me ♪ ♪ So long as I'm living true love I'll be giving ♪ ♪ To you I'll be serving ♪ ♪ Cause you're so deserving ♪ ♪ Hey, you're so deserving ♪ ♪ You're so deserving, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Love, love, love, love, love ♪ - [Sam] What a wonderful like time capsule and portrait that was captured by that student.

And just so happens that the Roller Garden closed their, shut their doors, you know, over the past few months.

- [Tim] And I just saw it I almost cried.

I want to go back to the seventies.

I do.

I really do.

- That film's magic.

It really is.

It's just magic.

You just feel such a lightness to see that.

♪ An everlasting love ♪ ♪ Oh, yes it will now ♪ - Well being gay, and I had to get all these pretty boys in it.

And then I had to all these pretty girls in it.

And I'll tell you back in the seventies, everybody in there was pretty.

Every boy was pretty.

Every girl was pretty.

And everybody was sexy.

Everybody, everybody, even me.

And everybody looked good in polyesters, they did!

(laughs) - He chose to shoot it on roller skates.

He kept the energy high.

- It was like a different world for me.

And I was meeting people that were like bearing this new world for me to come join.

And it didn't matter what race you were, what sex you were, what your sexual orientation.

We were there about one thing and only one thing, to be filmmakers.

We went through a lot of footage.

We had to go... That's where Rick came in at.

And he more or less guided me.

- [Rick] For the most part, students were completely in charge of their film.

And they would seek us how out.

But it was always in the mode of "What's your film about?

Tell me the story you wanna tell".

- Editing in those days, guys, I mean, you just can't believe it.

You had a little tiny viewer, so you looked at a very small image, you cranked the film through, so you could look at it at different speeds to find where you want to make the edit.

And then it was a mechanical process of physically cutting the film, scraping it, and gluing it back together.

- [Tom] One of the great things about Super 8 film is on Monday, you can develop an idea, you can go out and shoot it in the afternoon, it goes off to the lab and gets processed, the students would come back on a Thursday, the film would be back, we'd screen the material.

And that was the moment that we'd talk about editing and structure.

We'd also show them some other movies so they'd have some inspiration, and some ideas about how films are made, how they're put together.

In short periods of time, students were going through this cycle of conceptualization, production, and then assessment.

And all the skills that are involved in working together with other people, with writing, with working with sound, with working with the camera and picture, understanding editing.

- [Anthony] They never produced for us.

They let us produce.

It was fun to, for them to give us the autonomy, and the trust, with what we were doing, with the equipment.

- [Lynn] I always really wanted to have a camera.

My parents didn't have the money for that.

So it was really exciting to come to Film in the Cities and have them put a camera in your hand.

- [Helen] I don't think I would've made it through high school either.

I was pretty rebellious and they gave me place to just grow.

Someone gave me an opportunity and I used it to the best that I could.

I had mentors, other students just opening your mind.

(creepy music plays) (movie projector sound effect plays) - [Man] What are these?

(man laughing) (people laughing) (people laughing) - [Sam] There's the one that I think Tom comes in and then he's falling, and then he's on the ground and he turns into a chicken.

That one's really funny cause the soundtrack literally sounds like just a couple of kids like laughing.

I think the sense of humor in those is the thing that really stood out to me.

And it was just so unique.

(upbeat music plays) - [Antonio] The day at Grants Department Store.

By Antonio White.

Hello there.

How are you today?

Good.

Good morning.

You don't have to speak if you don't want.

Hello.

(laughs) Ma'am.

Candy.

Oh, birthday card.

(indistinct) Yeah.

You like that?

Yeah.

You wanna go over me?

Okay.

I like your nose.

Hello.

Think all about money, huh?

Ooh.

That looks good.

Hi.

Hey mommy.

Leave me alone.

Mm.

Leave me alone!

No, don't touch me!

No, Uh-uh!

- The freedom that these kids had to go do these things was so impressive and so wonderful.

- [Antonio] I'm over here, man.

Not down there.

Hey.

Hey.

No over here!

Hey man!

Hello.

Hi.

Hello Tequila!

Hi.

Get outta there.

I don't want you.

Hello.

There you go.

Oh, you're gonna bother me again?

No, stop!

Hello.

- [Sam] Go into this department store in St. Paul, walking up to them and interviewing them while they're eating in the cafe, while they're shopping.

It's just so wonderful.

And this is in a time when to have a camera out in public was pretty rare.

- [Antonio] Hello, miss.

Lot to say, man.

- [Sam] It took a lot of courage to see people's in the moment reactions to that.

Being interviewed all of a sudden from this young student.

- [Antonio] There he is, my best friend.

Come here, get away from him.

(movie projector sound effect plays) (fanfare plays) - [Sam] "Paranoia".

So visceral in the way that I think there was a negative film stock used.

And then there was burning of the film frames that was recorded.

There seemed to be a lot of emotion in that, that still is present, you know, 40 years later.

(sharp screaming) To encourage and support Film in the Cities, a student to express something that creates something like that is really special.

- Every single kid made a film, every single kid.

And that was, that was terrific.

You cannot anticipate where the artistic power or the social power will come from, from which child, you know, and I was just, I was so in awe of the way people worked.

(creepy music) (church bells) (screaming) (movie projector sound effect plays) (light-hearted piano music plays) - [Sam] I love "The Burning Church".

That animation is just like, wow, I can't imagine how much work went into that.

I wonder what the reaction was when that came out, to have a kid create something like that.

And the soundtrack is incredible, and the colors and the drawings.

- [Dianne] Jack Steinmann was a high school student from Minneapolis.

And he gravitated toward animation immediately.

I think he story boarded it.

His dutiful going upstairs to the animation stand, drawing, drawing, drawing, shooting, shooting, shooting, and then the next year coloring in all the animation cells.

I mean, this is a, a fantastic feat.

Jack Steinmann was a detailed person who was essentially allowed to just be himself, to express some very strong opinions about religion.

It's interesting to us who were teachers, the reaction of people today about that film, because there wasn't that kind of reaction at that time.

And maybe that it seems much more provocative than it did in the seventies.

Film in the Cities was a microcosm of the greater society.

There was fiery dialogue, which came from an authentic place, and it was allowed, it was allowed at dinner tables, it was allowed in classrooms, it was allowed in personal interaction, it was, you know, that was what people talked about.

(rhythmic music plays) - [Tom] We did wanna make sure that we had public screenings.

A couple times a year we would do a show.

- [Paul] There was a winter show and then a spring show.

- [Tom] So they would do everything that it took to put on those shows.

So there was a lot of ownership.

- [Paul] You know, you might make an animation, but you might make a documentary, you might make some kind of a narrative film.

You might just do experimental filmmaking, because you just wanna see what you could do with a camera, so.

- [Narrator] Hip, down, bounce, bounce, bounce, up.

1, 2, 1, down.

- Part of the work that they did is that obviously it reflected their lives.

So it's 1970, films like "Super Fly" are being made, students are coming in and they're wearing big hats and long coats, and of course they're running around with these fake guns.

(suspenseful music plays) It generated some heat.

And I remember feeling from my side of the desk, I thought, "This is so wonderful".

The students have finished a really nice little movie, it's this dramatic narrative, and here they are, making a film, they're on the poster for the spring festival.

Somebody else looks at that poster and they see it as something that's really dangerous.

Like what are these guys doing with these kids and guns?

What we were doing in fact, was letting the students have a voice.

(upbeat music plays) And they really weren't doing anything that you couldn't turn on channel 4 and see, or you couldn't flip open a magazine and see, but the fact that they were young people that had authorship, that had voice, that had power, that had control, was very challenging.

So there's this cultural upheaval that's going on, there's this socioeconomic element, there's this racial element, there's this element of content, there's this element of power and control, about who's gonna have voice, who's gonna be able to shoot back.

And that's what I always thought about with the students.

If they were able to shoot back.

And they literally were shooting back with their ideas and with their hearts and with their thoughts and with the power of the media.

(slow music plays) - Youth program ran from 1970 to 1976.

In 1976, both school districts had a major financial crisis.

They're laying off hundreds of teachers.

And the arts programs were just decimated.

That money had paid for everything that Film the Cities did.

And we lost the funding, lost the staff.

And so I put together a plan where the organization would be supported basically on three legs of the tripod, as we call it.

Education, exhibition and providing services to artists.

And things grew after that.

We found the building on University Avenue, a three story, former bank building, and actually moved in December 31st of 1976.

- [Sheryl] And the third floor was spaces available for artists to move in and to live there.

So I got one of the artist spaces, and down the hall was Timothy McKinney.

- So, at night when everybody would go home, I actually lived in Film in the Cities.

How?

I don't know how I did it.

(upbeat music plays) So I had two jobs, I taught intro to film, beginning film, and I also was equipment manager.

- [Robin] Loved Film in the Cities.

You know, learned so much at Film in the Cities.

But what was important, and I think it's important today, that we still must, now more than ever, have our community based organizations.

It's not an either or, we have to have both.

- [Bobby] What do you want to be happening in about five years from now?

- I grew up understanding the power of the arts that came from our community, the arts through the Inner City Youth League, which my father was one of the co-founders of.

So long history and just loving that, being passionate about storytelling.

My uncle, Gordon Parks, who instilled in me again, taking my rightful place behind the camera.

He influenced a lot of the programming at the Inner City's Youth League.

- [Timothy] Mr.

Parks was in fact, my idol.

In fact, when he came out with "Shaft", it was a big, big, big deal to me.

I used the word big more than once because it was a huge deal to me.

I just wanted to see a black face on the big screen.

(upbeat music plays) - [Robin] A big major project of Inner City, first film project, was with brother McKinney.

Amazing piece for the community was "Hampton Alexander".

(upbeat music plays) To see this black crew and this black cast.

And I mean, everybody and their mama was in that film.

(laughs) But to be able to see our community in this film, as children in the community, see a movie be made, and to see this black hero.

- So, if that's what I have to do.

Cause in the morning, it'll be all over.

I'll be gone.

- [Timothy] I was only, what 20?

19?

In that area.

But I was into dramatic filmmaking.

- Hello, Steve?

Would you let Brooklyn know I've got great news for him?

We've swallowed a maximum highway travel proposal.

And get this.

It'll be contracted to us.

- Now, I wrote the script for "Hampton Alexander".

You can see that it is well crafted I wanted it to be dramatic like "Shaft" or "Cotton Comes To Harlem" that kind of, "Sounder", that hard driving Hollywood production I know.

- I'll have you know- - [Hampton] My name is Hampton Alexander.

- [Timothy] I served not only as the writer and director of the film, but I also edited it in the projects of North Minneapolis.

In the basement, I had the reel to reel with the splicer in the middle.

And all these cans of film, and for three days, I stayed in the basement.

I couldn't be found or talked to.

When I came up stairs and I was through editing, it was like I was victorious!

I did it!

I did it!

What did I do?

I edited a film.

My film.

- [Radio Host] This is WAOK news, Lee McDebbers reporting.

Headlining the news at this hour.

A double homicide last night that took the lives of two well known citizens of the Highland Park area.

- I understood brother McKinney's excitement.

I know because I, I was there.

I could feel it, it was infectious.

And I just remember watching that magic happen.

(movie projector sound effect plays) - And one of the things that Film in the Cities had is it's, you know, three components, you know, education and exhibition, but also services to the artists and that provided equipment access.

Primarily, artists could come in and make their films, have camaraderie and collegiality with their, you know, people working with them, get some guidance, maybe some mentorship.

- [Tom] We had teacher training, we had community education classes going on, and then we had access program where we were providing access to individuals that needed equipment.

And we had an exhibition program where we were showing film and photography on a regular basis.

(upbeat music plays) - [Rick] With the education program, we recognized that the kids really didn't have any place to go on, just school, and they wanted more.

And so we started teaching evening classes, but we're teaching evening classes and they're doing college level work.

So we approached Inver Hills community college about accrediting their evening class.

Inver Hills asked us to develop a degree program.

- [Sheryl] So I worked with a group of wonderful advisors and we put together this curriculum.

That was approved, so we had a full associate degree program going on at Film in the Cities for where the classes were taking place in film.

And it still exists today over at MCTC.

So that's exciting to know that that still is going on.

- [Student] Afterwards, we looked at the videos again and see how well done they were, you know, for our first time even monkeying around with a camera.

I can feel proud that I was kind of a part of that, of making that.

- Film in the Cities, I mean, it was run by artists, it was directed by artists, I mean, it had always been that way, that was the model.

And as it got bigger and bigger, the stakes got higher.

- [Dianne] I don't remember about the outset of Film in the Cities' titles at all.

We were all teachers.

There wasn't the CEO and then this person and that person.

Ultimately, there developed a hierarchy.

And part of it was through, you know, demands of funders.

You know, the board was built, which it had to be also for funding.

But it changed the internal dynamic.

- [Paul] They changed things.

They tried to get someone else to look at it, but the fact was that the foundations weren't gonna be able to...

They weren't gonna be able to continue to fund it.

And that was it, so.

(upbeat music plays) - What I would hope part of the legacy is, and I, I see it, is that funders would take a chance, that they would believe in people with vision and allow them to exercise that vision.

- I think the model of Film in the Cities has been important for the community.

I know a lot of organizations that now use the education, exhibition, artist services model.

- [Molly] There was this art as an expressive force, but also as I realized in retrospect, in these times, art is a democrat at force for democracy.

- [Paul] I think it appealed to kids that wanted to be, that wanted to be individuals and knew that they had something to bring to the world, but they didn't know how to get that out there.

They knew that there was a magical, wonderful world, but they, we didn't know how to access it.

♪ Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

♪ ♪ Hallelujah!

♪ (upbeat music plays) - [Sam] Giving these students an opportunity and encouragement to use filmmaking as a form of personal expression was really profound and special for Film in the Cities to do that.

- [Anthony] It seems like a life ago.

It seems like a totally different person.

It was just an experience.

It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience.

- [Lynn] I think Film in the Cities was really a very formative time.

And it also, I think emboldened me and encouraged me to have a creative life.

- [Helen] I have had lifelong friends and lifelong influences from that program.

It was all just magical moments, just magical.

- You know when you are around people who are truly alive and present.

You know when you're in an organization where it's truly alive and present.

And frankly, the students at Film in the Cities knew it as well.

- [Tom] We trusted the students, and we trusted that the act of making, and out came these movies.

- [Robin] That was evidence that our opportunities to take our rightful place in our stories, to be creative, to see our visions become realities.

That matters.

- [Rick] You have to look at the child and see where they are and try to find out what you can do to support their learning.

But they have to do it.

And they aren't gonna learn by you're telling them, they learn by doing.

- [Sheryl] Everybody has their hands on it, if you will, and everybody has their opportunity to have a camera in their hand and be able to tell their story.

And if that is what we can accomplish, then we've really done something.

And we felt like we did.

- [Paul] For a movie, you need a lot of people to help you do it.

And Film in the Cities had all that going for it, it was a real community that really was there for a lot of people.

(upbeat disco music plays) - [Antonio] Okay I'm leaving.

See ya.

Bye.

Thank you.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

The Katherine B. Andersen Fund of the Saint Paul Minnesota Foundation.

Darby and Geri Nelson.

And other friends of Minnesota Experience.