We are proud to share some very nice news: two of our films took home great awards last month. On the west coast, Think of Calvin won  Best Short Documentary at the Napa Valley Film Festival while across the country,  Code Oakland was awarded  Best Film at the inaugural Fulbright Film Festival in Washington, DC. 

We sincerely appreciate the acclaim, because festival screenings and awards help us reach a broader audience. Thanks to all who came out, and keep an eye out for future festival screenings here. 

We also had the honor of screening TEACHED films at two prestigious venues in Washington, DC last month:

First up, the  U.S. Department of Education, where the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans organized a great event for students: Supporting Boys and Men of Color: AfAmEdFilms Screening and Discussion. Thanks to Lauren Mims and David Johns for including our work , and for all you do to fight for educational equality.

Our second event, Changing the Lens on African American Boys, was co-hosted by Georgetown University's Prisons & Justice Initiative and its Film & Media Studies program.

Huge thanks to the Moriah Fund and CityBridge for sponsoring this event, and to speakers Marc Howard, Carlet Harris, Armonta'e Harris and M.A.N.U.P.'s Brandon Johns. Also, thanks to Chanda Harris for her remarks, and for having the wherewithal to use her phone to capture the incident that is featured in  Think of Calvin. 

Indeed, we believe cameras constitute one of the greatest weapons average citizens have in fighting for justice and equality. If you missed our blog post on this subject for Human Rights Day, please read it here.  

What will the surprise election of Donald Trump mean for the issues that matter to us most at TEACHED?

We know on one issue in Think of Calvin —namely, "stop and frisk"—the President-elect seems unconcerned with (and confused about) its use as a form of racial profiling. We also have concerns about Trump's record of racial discrimination; his peculiar public response against the wrongfully accused and convicted Central Park Five, and his generalizations about minority and religious groups in America. 

Intern Zachary Dorcinville shares his views and concerns—from his vantage point as a young Black man living in American today—in this must-read TEACHED blog post, Reflecting on the Election.

It's almost the end of 2016, which means it's a great time to make a tax-deductible donation. What does your donation to TEACHED help fund? A few examples:

$25 to $50 = One film festival submission

$50 to $100 = An hour of video or audio editing

$500 to $1,500 = A half-day film shoot

$1,500 to $5,000 = A full-day film shoot

$5,000 to $20,000 = Sound design, music score, color correction and graphics for one short film