26 Malden Residents To Participate In Collaborative Filmmaking Program

This post is a press release from the city of Malden.

MALDEN, MA – Urban Media Arts, formerly Malden Access TV is proud to announce that 26 community members have been selected to participate in the Filmbuilding Malden 2023 program. This unique city-wide program invites participants to co-create a series of short films with guidance from experienced local filmmakers and UMA media educators. All participants work in one of five groups, each of which will screen their group’s short film with the community at film screenings in Malden.

Selected participants for Filmbuilding Malden are Martha Bezzat, Kobena Bonney, Pamela Bronder-Giroux, Karen Buck, Damaris Calderon, C.D. Collins, Jessica Frazier Vasquez, Bijay Ghising, Doc Havey, Robert Hayes, Parto Khorshidi, Eungtae Kim, Tai Lam, Yana Lapaix, Karen Lynch, Ethan MacAdam, Shiva Mishra, Jodi Moran, Nakatto Nassozi, Alexandria Onuoha, Eric Pinckney, Hannibal Rosa, Nikita Sampath, Maryanne Smith, Michael Tessier, and Rydia Vielehr.

Participants attended a successful full-day orientation on Saturday, May 20th at the Malden Teen & Senior Center. The orientation was co-facilitated by Essential Partners, a local nonprofit that specializes in strengthening relationships through communication. This full day training prepared them for working with their groups and provided training in communicating effectively and sharing stories. Special thanks to local Malden restaurants All Seasons Table and Pearl Street Station for providing meals to attendees throughout the day.

Made possible by grant funding from the City of Malden, the Filmbuilding Malden program aims to strengthen the Malden community through collaborative filmmaking projects, film screenings, and public media art events. It brings people of different backgrounds together to explore the question, "Who is Malden?"

All five short films will premiere around the city at different screening events in the fall. There will also be a final culminating event in October to screen all five short films together and mark the close of the program.

Anyone interested in receiving notifications about the program and the events in the fall can either sign up for email updates at bit.ly/whoismalden, email Ose Schwab at ose@umaverse.org, or call 781-480-3214.

This press release was produced by City of Malden. The views expressed here are the author’s own.