Portland workshop opens up the world of filmmaking to students: ‘It’s so empowering’

As the camera rolled, a group of young actors sat in a loose circle at a table in the Northeast Clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Portland Metropolitan Area on Saturday.

“Welcome to group therapy,” said 12-year-old Jakai Thomas, who was wearing devil horns as he addressed kids dressed as other monsters, including a vampire, a ghost and a scarecrow. Red LED light lit up his face from a source under the table, while the actors tried to keep their faces straight. Moments later, the group erupted into laughter and the movie’s director — also their age — smiled and stepped back onto the set, which was staged to look like a group therapy session for monsters.

Each of the participants is a student of the Future Filmmakers Workshop, a program organized by the Portland Boys and Girls Clubs, Portland Film Festival, Koerner Camera and Comcast. The workshop brings in dozens of kids as they learn the basics of filmmaking from volunteer instructors.

“Say, ‘Hello, everybody,’” Future Filmmakers volunteer mentor Derric Crooks told the cast as he hefted a camera. “‘Who has an issue, who’s going to go next?’”

While Crooks may have been feeding the young actors their lines, Future Filmmakers founder Josh Leake said that most of them were created by the students themselves.

“What we do with our (program) is you set the kids down for the first half hour, hour, and we just brainstorm with them,” he said. “They’re coming up with the ideas and then when they see them on the screen, it’s like, ‘Hey, I helped do that.”

Leake — who is also the founder and executive director of the Portland Film Festival — said he started the annual workshop eight years ago to provide a space for kids in elementary school through high school to learn filmmaking for free. The students are split into groups that each create a film during the one-day workshop.

This year’s workshop is monster-themed in honor of Halloween, and their creations will be screened at the McMenamins Kennedy School Theater at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 19 as part of the Portland Film Festival, which runs Oct. 16-20.

“I started (film) at the same age as these kids,” added Crooks, who at 46 is now the creative services director at KOIN News in Portland. He said he started working with film cameras in elementary school and turned it into a career. Now, he says, he has the chance to show the younger generations the ropes of filmmaking.

“I just feel like it can open a door to something that kids might not normally be exposed to,” he said.

Larisa Yermakov, lead youth development coordinator for the Boys and Girls Clubs who has been involved in the program since 2021, shared Crooks’ sentiment.

“The biggest value is that exposure to different jobs and communities out there,” the 24-year-old told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “It’s so empowering to them.”

Caspian Magstadt, who is playing a scarecrow in the monster group-therapy film, said he was having a fun time on set.

“We kind of just, like, throw an idea in the pool and people add to it,” the 17-year-old said of the process. “It’s awesome. More kids need to be in it.”

— Tatum Todd covers crime and public safety. Reach them at ttodd@oregonian.com or 503-221-4313.