The Film Festival From MARS
Film-
making
From
MARS
An annual exhibition of film and digital art produced by students in Special Education at Walter Reade Theater in New York City's Lincoln Center.
A teaching-artist program offering in-school and after-school residencies and workshops designed for students in special education and their teachers and service providers.
Who doesn't love shooting video? Turning video into a film is an epic endeavor. What better way to integrate art and education than filmmaking? It ignites the joy of learning in amazing ways and anyone can do it if they try!
Inaugurated in 2016, The Film Festival From MARS is an annual, inclusive event that showcases film and digital art produced by children who receive Special Education services and have a school-identified disability. Film projects eligible for submission include at least 50% participation by students with disabilities from grades k-12.
Filmmaking From MARS provides teaching artists to conduct in-school and after-school residencies for students in Special Education. Teaching artists lead students in making a film, from start to finish. They also conduct workshops for kindergarten-12th grade teachers and service providers to learn how to integrate filmmaking into the curriculum and school-based therapy. Residencies and workshops are designed to meet the needs of recipients. Length of time and duration of residencies are flexible.
Youth in Special Education deserve access to high quality,
digital-arts programming. We promote filmmaking as a vehicle for meeting the educational, emotional, social and developmental needs of students.
Engaging children with special needs in filmmaking teaches them that they can and in fact SHOULD create culture, information and entertainment so their perspectives and talents can be heard, celebrated and enjoyed in connection with the community at large.