Aspiring Filmmakers Invited to Focus in on Hawai‘i Volcanoes

06/19/2009

Park Announces Digital Mountain `09: It’s My Park!

Lights, camera, action! This summer, Hawai‘i Volcanoes invites students to share their park perspectives on film by joining in an exciting film contest.

Digital Mountain ’09: It’s My Park! (DM•IX) is a special program designed to engage, inspire, and equip youth with digital media skills, while strengthening their ties to one of Hawai‘i’s most cherished sites—Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

If you graduated from high school in 2009 or you’ll be a student in the 7th through 12th grade in the fall of 2009, you’re eligible to submit your short film about Hawai‘i Volcanoes to the DM•IX film festival.

Not sure you can get to the park this summer and don’t have a camera? No worry! We’ll provide the digital video cameras and have scheduled dates to pick you up in Puna (July 13, 16, and 18) and Ka‘u (July 17, 19, and 20) and bring you to the park.

Not sure you know how to create a short film? Don’t worry! We’ll send out professionals from the film and TV industry to help prepare you to shoot your video. And media experts and a Technology Bus—equipped with computers, software, and editing equipment—will travel to your community to help you finalize your film.

“We felt strongly that taking the training on the road was critical,” said DM•IX co-executive producer, Roland Joseph Torres. “We had a vision of doing on-site workshops and when Friends of the Future offered their Technology Bus, it turned into an exciting reality.”

“We’re delighted to provide this free opportunity to our neighboring communities and hope after this first year we’ll be able to reach out to even more communities,” said Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando.

The premiere showing of the students’ films will take place in the park on the weekend of September 19, 2009. Contest winners will be awarded incredible prizes including JVC Digital Camcorders and I-Mac Computers.

DM•IX is sponsored by the Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai‘i Natural History Association, Ka‘u Rural Health Association, Pacific Media Trust and Learning, Friends for the Future, National Park Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, Lyman Museum, Pacific Tsunami Museum, KapohoKine Adventures, Hawai‘i Forest and Trail, and Hawaiian Walkways.
To learn more about Digital Mountain ’09: It’s My Park! and to register on-line for this free program, go to www.digitalmountain-hawaii.com or call (808) 985-6166.

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park
P.O. Box 52
Hawaii National Park
Hawai‘i 96718
Mardie Lane, Park Ranger
808-985-6018 phone