# Teached

TEACHED is a series of short films created by Kelly Amis and produced by her company, Loudspeaker Films. TEACHED candidly examines the experiences of youth of color in America, especially African American boys. The TEACHED films have won seventeen international film festival awards and screened at venues including the U.S. Department of Education, SXSW-Edu, Museum of the Moving Image, the Salesforce Foundation, LinkedIn and a wide variety of universities, businesses, faith-based institutions and non-profit organizations. Their short film format is particularly conducive to interactive screening events and bringing diverse audiences together to discuss complex issues. The most recent TEACHED film, Think of Calvin, premiered at The Atlantic's Inaugural Race & Justice Summit, followed by a panel discussion hosted by NPR's Michele Norris (broadcast on C-Span) and a dialogue with the Washington, DC Police Chief. .

## Synopsis

Demeaned, suspended, expelled ..."teached." Why are so many students, especially African American boys, not achieving their potential? Why do we still have a race-based "achievement gap" in the U.S.? The TEACHED series reflects creator Kelly Amis' experience as a teacher, education researcher, and policy strategist. The series addresses some of today's most challenging education issues, from the under-education and over-incarceration of minority youth to the structures within the teaching profession that virtually guarantee that certain demographic groups will never have the same opportunities to succeed as their peers.

## Episodes

| # | Title | Duration |
| 1 | "The Path to Prison" | 8 minutes |
| The United States now bears the ominous title as the planet's most prolific jailer: with only 5% of the population, it represents a quarter of the world's incarcerated. The vast majority of American inmates are illiterate, and an inordinate number are people of color. One young man's story helps explain how so many capable and intelligent youth, especially African-American males, end up behind bars in "the land of the free." |||
| 2 | "The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out" | 17 minutes |
| The discourse around education reform – especially on issues involving teachers – lacks nuance, thoughtfulness, and often, commonsense. Simplistic "pro-" and "anti-" teacher rhetoric distracts from the efforts to improve teacher quality, especially in schools serving urban, minority children. What do teachers themselves say about the profession and whether it is serving students' needs... not to mention their own? |||
| 3 | "Unchartered Territory" | 16 minutes |
| Charter school founders are pioneers of education reform, staking their claim by opening new schools in many historically underserved communities. But twenty years after the first charter school opened its doors, many Americans are still confused about what these independently operated, publicly funded schools are, and why not all of them are performing well. Was the charter formula wrong? What can the best charter school leaders teach the rest? |||
| 4 | "Code Oakland" | 21 minutes |
| This film examines Oakland's evolution through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley spreads into the home of the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first activism was a hunger strike at age eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are preparing youth to redesign the future through the power of coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement to change both the face and future of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked? |||
| 4 | "Code Oakland" | 21 minutes |
| This film examines Oakland's evolution through the eyes of social entrepreneurs determined that youth of color not be left on the sidelines as Silicon Valley spreads into the home of the second largest black community in California. Kalimah Priforce, whose first activism was a hunger strike at age eight, and Kimberly Bryant, a successful engineer turned founder of Black Girls Code, are preparing youth to redesign the future through the power of coding. Joined on the national stage by #YesWeCode founder Van Jones, their work represents the cusp of a movement to change both the face and future of technology in America. But is Silicon Valley ready to be hacked? |||
| 5 | "Think of Calvin" | 20 minutes |
| On a Friday night after a long week at work, Calvin joined his family in Washington, DC for an informal gathering. Still wearing scrubs from his job at Children’s National Medical Center, he caught up with an old friend while his two boys rode bikes around the block. When police followed his fifteen year-old home, pulling on gloves as they approached him, Calvin intervened to ask “Why? What did he do?” How these questions escalated into a night in jail for him will make you “Think of Calvin” next time you question racial profiling or how America has become the world’s most prolific jailer. |||

## Cast and crew

* Kelly Amis - Producer, Director & Editor
* Sergei Krasikov - Cinematographer, Editor
* Art Meyerhoff - Cinematographer
* Shaka Jamal - Cinematographer, Editor
* Vincent Cortez - Cinematographer
* Natacha Giler - Cinematographer
* Kate Stilley Steiner - Editor
* Sean Kimber - Graphics
* Asparagus Studios - Music
* Michael Harris - Music
* Kev Choice - Music
* Gwendolyn Barriac - Music
* Phillip Ebeid - Cinematographer
* Christina Voros - Cinematographer
* Ana-Lena Isaksson - Cinematographer
* Justin Ammon - Cinematographer
* Andrew Blum - Cinematographer
* Cyrus Dowlatshahi - Cinematographer
* Ri Crawford - Title Sequence

## Production

TEACHED is the signature project of Loudspeaker Films, an independent media company founded by Kelly Amis in 2010. It was originally conceived as a feature-length documentary but evolved into a short film series during production. The TEACHED series was sponsored by the International Documentary Association and funded by charitable contributions. In 2013, Amis won the Teach for America Social Innovation Award, which provided an additional $50,000 to the project. The TEACHED series is complemented by an online interview series, On the Loudspeaker, which features national figures such as John Legend, Van Jones, Wendy Kopp and Deray McKesson discussing the issues examined in the films.

## Awards and screenings

THINK OF CALVIN WINNER- Best Short Documentary, Napa Valley Film Festival WINNER- Best Documentary, Uptown Short Film Festival Official Selection- Vail Film Festival Official Selection- Oakland International Film Festival Official Selection- Indianapolis Black Expo Film Festival Official Selection- Dingle International Film Festival Official Selection- Williamsburg Film Festival Featured at The Atlantic's Race & Justice Summit
CODE OAKLAND WINNER - Best Short Documentary, Harlem International Film Festival WINNER - Best Documentary, Humboldt Film Festival WINNER - Best Film, Fulbright Association Film Festival WINNER - Award of Merit, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival WINNER - Aloha Award, Honolulu Film Festival WINNER - Audience Award, (In)Justice for All Film Festival WINNER - Social Impact Award, (In)Justice for All Film Festival WINNER - Bronze, Social & Economic Issues, Houston World Fest WINNER - Honorable Mention, Napa Valley Film Festival WINNER - Rising Star Award for Director Kelly Amis, Canada Film Festival Official Selection - St. Louis International Film Festival Official Selection - Sacramento Film Festival Official Selection - San Francisco Black Film Festival Official Selection - Milan International Film Fest Official Selection - Heartland International Film Fest Official Selection - Breckenridge Film Festival Official Selection - Joshua Tree Film Festival Official Selection - Boise Film Festival Official Selection - Manchester International Film Festival Official Selection - Little Rock Film Festival Official Selection - Julien Dubuque International Film Festival Official Selection - Madrid International Film Festival
TEACHED VOL. I (THE PATH TO PRISON, UNCHARTERED TERRITORY, and THE BLAME GAME) WINNER - Best Short Documentary, Williamsburg Film Festival WINNER - Spirit of Independence Jury Prize: Amsterdam Film Festival Official Selection - SXSWedu Official Selection - Colorado Film Festival Official Selection - Napa Valley Film Festival Official Selection - Harlem International Film Festival Official Selection - SouthSide Film Festival Official Selection - deadCenter Film Festival Official Selection - Sonoma International Film Festival Official Selection - Miami Short Film Festival Official Selection - London Lift-Off Film Festival Official Selection - Taos Shorts Film Festival Official Selection - New Hampshire Film Festival Official Selection - Big Easy International Film Festival Official Selection - Albany Film Festival Official Selection - Los Angeles Independent Film Festival