OVERVIEW:
The Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project (FCFCEP) is a grassroots, volunteer-run, effort which provides current and former foster youth the opportunity to share their stories through film, writing, art, and public speaking.

Our mission is threefold:
1. To share rarely heard foster youth stories
2. To provide foster youth professional development opportunities
3. To create a greater understanding of the foster care system among a wide, general audience.

EVENT DETAILS:
In May 2019, during National Foster Care Month, we will host a Child Welfare Film Festival and Symposium in NYC to raise public awareness and give foster youth a chance to be heard.

The event will consist of film screenings, Q&A’s and discussion panels. Select documentaries from our own film series will be screened throughout the festival alongside curated films by other artists. We will have an open call for film submissions; entries will be judged for inclusion by foster care alumni and film professionals. This will empower foster youth by giving them a say in how they are portrayed in the media, and help create a more accurate public representation of the child welfare system.

All films will address topics such as abuse, neglect, mental health, substance abuse, sibling separation, adoption, identity and other themes which often affect foster youth and are portrayed in our series thus far.

Short films invited to screen will be grouped by theme and foster youth, foster parents and social workers will speak on the selected themes following each screening.

We will host three events; each will be 2.5 hours and will include a 90 minute film screening and Q&A, followed by a 60 minute discussion panel. Attendees will have the opportunity to stay after the formal event is over to continue the conversation.