n high school, the movie theater used to be the place you went to play hooky. In Pelham, it”™s part of the curriculum.
The curtain rose last month on a two-part educational regimen at The Picture House on Wolfs Lane. The 1921 movie house is in the midst of a multiyear revitalization that includes education outreach.
A long-planned and just-begun program has students from four high schools ”“ Pelham Memorial High School, Ardsley High School, East Harlem’s The Heritage School and In-Tech Academy in the Bronx ”“ using the 383-seat theater as classroom and film studio. It is funded through the end of the school year.
A college-style course on film literacy is now attended by 80-90 students ”“ a senior English class from each of the high schools. Works of literature and the movies upon which they are based are studied together. The curriculum includes basic knowledge of filmmaking and, that accomplished, allows for class-by-class customization of the lesson plan.
The second class ”“ 15 students ”“ will make a movie. These students, described as passionate by The Picture House”™s Executive Director Jennifer Christman, were nominated by their schools to participate. The movie-making group possesses one student from Edgemont High School, the only student outside the four target schools, but Christman anticipates more high schools signing on. There is already a migration of teaching lessons from The Picture House to the schools as teachers bring lessons from the theater back to the classroom. The mission as Christman sees it is “to build and bridge communities through film. That’s what we”™re really excited to bring to life.”
The program”™s three instructors are Jordan Smith, Regina Robbins and Maggie Glass, all employees of the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
“I don’t think there’s anything like this,” Christman said. “Clearly, there are film schools, but not a movie theater bringing diverse schools together like this program does”.
She said the theater is geographically ideal to spread film education. “We are the gateway to the Bronx and we are the gateway to Westchester.”Â
One lesson far from the glamour of the silver screen is cooperation. Said Christman: “They”™re seeing the world beyond school: the work place, where you cannot pick your coworkers like you pick your friends in high school. You must cooperate. In addition to teaching filmmaking, we’re building life skills.”Â
The movie-making students will host a screening of their self-written, self-filmed, self-edited film at The Picture House and DVD copies will be provided for each of the five high schools involved.
Long-term plans for The Picture House call for a renovated main theater of 250 and a pair of smaller theaters added to the back of the building. Â
A nonprofit, The Picture House has to date raised enough money to run the classes to the end of the year. “Our goal is to build up for next year,” Christman said. Private donors, HBO and the Matthew S. Hisiger Film Foundation have funded the effort so far.
 “We believe that film is a way to understand ourselves and others,” Christman said in a statement. “Our programs encourage film appreciation in classroom and community settings; provide a forum for discussion, criticism and stimulating conversations; link personal experiences with world issues ”“ film as a vehicle of social responsibility; require writing, organization and planning, technical knowledge, accountability for creative choices and having a vision.”
The number for more information about The Picture House is 738-3161. The Web site is thepicturehouse.org.
