The TWN (Third World Newsreel) Production Workshop is an intensive 6-month program for aspiring and emerging filmmakers committed to social justice. Now in its 47th year, it focuses on practical skills for historically marginalized communities with limited access to institutional film programs or resources.
What types of videos can be made in the workshop?
Dramatic, documentary, experimental and various cross genres. Regardless of the formal structure,
projects must be kept short, simple and manageable to keep production time and expenses down.
What other costs are associated with the Production Workshop?
The workshop provides basic production equipment. Other production costs such as additional media cards,
external drives, transportation, food, props, etc. are at the participants' expense.
When are applications available and when will I be notified of acceptance/rejection?
Applications are up on our website in December and the deadline for this year's completed applications
is in January. Interviews are conducted soon after and people will be notified immediately about their acceptance or rejection.
How competitive is the application process?
We want as many people as possible to have access to the application process.
However, only about half of the applicants are contacted for personal interviews
for the available slots.
Are there other training programs that TWN offers?
TWN offers
a series of free Evening Seminars on various production topics, plus film screenings and director talks every fall and spring.
What kind of time commitment is necessary for the Production Workshop?
If your time is limited or you have other commitments, it will be very difficult to fully benefit
from the Production Workshop. In addition to the regular evening meetings, participants are also expected
to attend the Evening Seminar Series, and there is a tremendous amount of work in pre-production and post-production
that each participant must accomplish outside of the regularly attended sessions. In addition,
because people often work during the weekday, most productions are shot on the weekends or in the evenings
so you must be available and flexible with your time.
Workshop participants are required to help on each other's projects and are encouraged to participate in a Community Service Project where members provide some kind of service, i.e. shoot an event, screen films or videos, conduct a media workshop, etc.
for a grassroots community organization. It must be emphasized that the Production Workshop is not a "school" situation
where one meets for class once a week, takes notes and then comes back again the following week.
It is a project driven and production orientated program where one must be committed to learning basic production skills while making progressive media projects.
What have past participants done after the TWN Media Production Workshop?
Past participants have produced, written and directed feature films, documentaries and experimental works.
They have worked as cinematographers, editors and other technical positions on fictional films,
documentaries, commercials, and music videos. TWN graduates include Academy Award nominees and Emmy winners.
They have been accepted to graduate film programs at NYU, UCLA, CCNY and Columbia University
and have attended AFI, IFP and the Sundance Directors and Writing labs.
They have started their own production companies and film collectives. They have produced community based video and film projects and training programs and so much more. Workshop graduates include: Yance Ford (Strong Island), Daresha Kyi (Chavela), Loira Limbal (Through the Night and Estilo Hip Hop), Byron Hurt (Hazing, Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Soul Food Junkies) Grace Lee (The Grace Lee Project, American Revolutionary and Asian American series), Ada Gay Griffin (A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde), Randy Redroad (Doe Boy), Renata Gangemi (Professor, Ramapo College), Alice Wu (Saving Face), Jamal Josephs (30 Days, Professor, Columbia University), Cara Mertes (Ford Foundation) and Renee Tajima-Peña (No Más Bebés, Calavera Highway, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, Professor, UCLA).