A PROGRAM THAT GIVES YOUTH A VOICE

FRESNO–Ruben Diaz has a passion for creating films. He got the chance to make a film about immigration through the Youth Voices program.

“Just because you hear one story about one bad immigrant it doesn’t. It’s a very very low percentage of like immigrants that actually do bad,” Diaz said.

Three filmmakers each got the opportunity to create a film that they were passionate about. They went through a year-long process with the help of CMAC, the Community Media Access Collaborative, where they developed new skills. Raymart Catacutan said he learned a lot about editing and storytelling.

“I feel like now I have more of a skillset to tell a story that I wasn’t able to before,” Catacutan said. Now, not only do I have more experience about learning about something I was already passionate about, now I know how to tell a story in a different way.”

Gabrielle Rivas wanted to encompass everything into her film to give a voice to those who don’t have one. And seeing her film on the big screen made her feel accomplished.

“It felt really strange because when you’re coming up with an idea, you’re not exactly sure how you’re going to achieve that but then seeing our video completely I was able to see oh wow it really came along,” Rivas said.

The Youth Voices program is able to happen because of programs like CMAC and the California Endowment. You can watch the full film screening on CMAC.tv.