Just Think “JAMs” Its Way to Innovative Youth Media Programs

Just Think JAM brings veteran youth media educator team to new Just Think/San Francisco Film Society partnership with 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival as inaugural collaboration

San Francisco, April 19, 2006—The Just Think Foundation, the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that ignites young minds through media education, has established a partnership with long-standing youth media educators Joanne Parsont and Mike Cavanaugh to form Just Think JAM, a creative collaboration aiming to dramatically expand the education program of the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) with a new series of innovative youth media initiatives.

As the former longtime program manager of SFFS’s annual Schools at the Festival outreach program, Parsont says she is thrilled about the prospect of the Film Society delivering a wider range of youth programs year-round. “Film festivals are great places for youth to annually exhibit their films, meet their peers and be inspired by media,” says Parsont. “Our vision is to extend that reach so that the San Francisco Film Society can consistently provide creative opportunities for youth to develop their artistic and analytical media-making skills.”

“Just Think JAM has designed a long-term curriculum for 8 to 18 year olds that will support their creative growth over time,” added Cavanaugh, a San-Francisco-based film director, editor and youth filmmaking workshop leader. “It’s a terrific opportunity to deliver programs of screenings and media-making to the kids of the Bay Area.”

Just Think JAM will launch at the 49th SF International Film Festival (SFIFF) this month with Focus Forward, an opportunity for local selected students to document the Festival under the guidance of Just Think JAM mentors. The students will create a short film of the Festival, demonstrating the talents of youth filmmakers and supporting the ongoing development of SFFS/Just Think JAM’s new youth initiatives, in anticipation of the inaugural San Francisco International Youth Media Festival in 2007.

Parsont and Cavanaugh bring more than two decades of combined experience in film production, film festival programming, media education program development and teaching the creative process of filmmaking to young people with organizations such as the SFFS, Mill Valley Film Festival, Napa/Sonoma Film & Music Institute and Sonoma Valley Film Festival.

Using film and video education to cultivate the next generation of world citizens and artists, Just Think JAM will provide ongoing, component-based programs to support young people in developing critical thinking skills, vital viewing techniques and the tools for creative production. “Just Think brings ten years of valuable experience with youth media-making to this inspired partnership,” says Cavanaugh. “Combined with our curriculum and playful approach to youth creativity, Just Think JAM is poised to become a powerful and dynamic means for Bay Area youth to gain access to media in a way that helps them to both understand and shape their world.”

About Just Think
The Just Think Foundation was created as a concerned response to the ever-increasing deluge of messages youths receive from television, radio, film, print media, electronic games and the internet. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization teaches young people media literacy skills for the 21st century by creating and delivering in-school, after school and online media arts and technology education locally, nationally and internationally.  Just Think, which celebrated its ten year anniversary in 2005, envisions a world where kids influence media more then media influences them - a world where being literate means being media literate.

About San Francisco Film Society
SFFS is the presenter of the San Francisco International Film Festival, the longest-running film festival in the Americas. The festival, which is held annually in late April, annually features some 200 films, with more than 100 filmmakers in attendance. The First to 50, SFIFF will celebrate its golden anniversary in April 2007.

Prior to launching the San Francisco International Youth Media Festival, SFFS debuts the San Francisco International Animation Festival, Market, and Digital Media Conference in October 2006. This spring SFFS also launched SF360.org, an online magazine devoted to daily news and features from the Bay Area film and media scene, and the citywide SF360 Movie Night, as part of a slate of new initiatives devoted to the exploration of new platforms, new work and new audiences.

Contact
Elana Yonah Rosen 415-561-2900; elana@justthink.org or www.justthink.org
Hilary Hart 415-561-5022; publicity@sffs.org