Howcast Partners with the U.S. Department of State to Host Pilot Filmmaker Workshops

April 2, 2009 - PRLog -- Howcast Media announced today the completion of its pilot Emerging Filmmakers Program (EFP) for Palestinian youth, conducted with funding from the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.  Designed to introduce Palestinian youth to professional filmmaking techniques, the EFP Workshops, led by local members of the Howcast team, provided Palestinian youth with both creative and highly marketable skills.

Howcast’s Emerging Filmmakers Program provided these new, young filmmakers with the opportunity to gain experience, exposure, and income by creating short, how-to videos designed for online viewing.  Howcast empowered these amateur filmmakers with both the tools and the guidance to allow them to shoot and edit their own how-to videos, and provided them with scripts, pre-recorded voice-overs, graphics and music tracks.  Once completed, Howcast then broadly distributed the videos on Howcast.com as well as through Howcast's extensive distribution network, both online (including AOL, YouTube, Yahoo!, Metacafe, Daily Motion, and Break) and offline (including TiVo, V CAST and iTunes).

Working with the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, Howcast identified non-governmental agencies and educational centers throughout the West Bank and in East Jerusalem with which to partner to host the filmmaking workshops.  These included  USAID’s Ruwwad program, Relief International - Schools Online (RI-SOL), Al-Quds University, Birzeit University and Darkalima College.

Following these hands-on filmmaking workshops, students made a wide variety of different how-to videos that have both regional as well as more universal appeal; ranging from topics such as “How to Make Hummus” to “How to Plant a Tree."  The students aimed to create videos for a general audience, while still relating in different ways to Palestinian culture specifically and Arab culture more generally.  As their videos were selected for distribution by Howcast, students received monetary compensation for their efforts.

“At Howcast, we are dedicated to giving up–and-coming filmmakers an opportunity to shine through our Emerging Filmmakers Program,” said Daniel Blackman, Co-founder and COO of Howcast.com.  “By conducting filmmaking workshops in the West Bank, we were able to extend this opportunity by providing direct instruction to this particular group of talented young filmmakers."

Videos from the West Bank Emerging Filmmakers Program can be found at http://info.howcast.com/filmmakers/workshops.



Contact:
Tessa Barrera
Howcast Media
646-558-0671
tessa.barrera@howcast.com

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From How to Write a Resume to How to Jump-Start Your Car , Howcast can provide the answer to any how-to question. Named a top web site of 2008 by both TIME and PC Magazine, Howcast.com engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands and individual contributors. Howcast Studios produces useful, engaging how-to videos while also enabling up-and-coming filmmakers and students to gain experience and build real careers by making professional video with guidance in the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program.

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