The Third World Newsreel Production Workshop is a unique “hands-on” media production training program providing practical skills and resources for emerging filmmakers. This intensive six-month program, now in its 46th year, is aimed primarily at members of historically marginalized communities, with limited economic resources and access to mainstream educational institutions or traditional training programs. Offering tools to create fiction or documentary projects, the Media Production Workshop carries on TWN's mission of promoting independent cinema by and about communities of color and other underserved groups and their progressive allies.
The Production Workshop curriculum integrates elements of new digital technologies and transmedia in its training, but its focus is the development of the pre-production, production and post-production skills necessary to take a short 5 minute video project from conception to completion. Working together, workshop fellows conceive and produce their films with the help of instructors and guest lecturers, professionals working in the field of film/video and transmedia. Fellows are expected to complete one individual short video project during the program.
The Production Workshop meets one evening a week at 6:00 PM virtually and an additional 6-8 Saturdays for labs, in-person. The time commitment needed to participate in the program is high and selected fellows must be able to attend regular class meetings as well as meet the out-of-class demands of preproduction, production and post-production.
Prior film, video or related experience is helpful but not required; self-initiative, openness to feedback, a progressive and collaborative spirit are, along with a commitment to meeting class production deadlines and completing one’s film project.
The Production Workshop is limited to 9 participants. A written application is required and selected applicants are chosen for interviews. The cost of the workshop this year is $600, payable in installments.
In 2023, TWN can also offer fellows who complete the program, credits that can be used should they enter a BA or BFA program at Goddard College. Students currently enrolled at Goddard must follow the application guidelines and process. If accepted into the workshop, they can earn credits towards their Humanities requirements. Please email workshop@twn.org or visit goodard.edu for more information.
The TWN Production Workshop is dedicated to the memory of Herman Lew, longtime Workshop Director, filmmaker and cinematographer. Past Workshop grads include award-winning filmmakers Daresha Kyi, Yance Ford, Byron Hurt, Paula Heredia, Renee Tajima-Peña, Jamal Joseph, and Randy Redroad and many others.
