Two Toledo, Ohio High Schools First in Nation to Participate in Initiative
Schools to Receive State of the Art Video Cameras during January 26 Launch Event
Network's Innovative New Public Affairs Campaign Integrates Filmmaking Techniques into High School English Literature Classes
New York, NY, January 26, 2005 – The Independent Film Channel (IFC) announced today that it has established its first partnership, with Buckeye CableSystem, for the network's groundbreaking new standards-based education initiative, Film School. Two Toledo, Ohio area high school English classes will be the first in the nation to participate in the initiative. To kick-off the program, five video cameras will be presented to each of the schools during a launch event on January 26 in Ohio.
Announced in November, IFC's Film School provides the tools to get students energized about classroom activities while simultaneously accomplishing core educational goals. The objective of the curriculum is to give English teachers additional ways to engage their students, as well as provide students with the tools for increased media literacy. With this curriculum, students will watch films relevant to their English literature classes while simultaneously learning about the art of filmmaking, including screen writing, film production, and critique. Ultimately, students will be encouraged to make their own film interpretations of literature.
Perrysburg High School in Perrysburg, and Scott High School in Toledo are the first two schools to participate in the new initiative. A presentation will be made at Scott High School on January 26 and will include remarks from local school officials; IFC executive, Evan Fleischer; IFC resident film aficionado and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at C.W. Post, Thom Bennett; and VP Sales and Marketing for Buckeye CableSystem, Florence Buchanan.
"We are thrilled about our first partnership for IFC's Film School with Buckeye CableSystem," said Todd Green, SVP Affiliate Marketing for IFC's parent company Rainbow Media. "Not only is Film School a dynamic multimedia teaching tool for educators and a wonderful opportunity for high school students, it also provides a huge benefit to the network's cable affiliates. Regional events can offer marketing support to local affiliates, strategic brand awareness will be heightened for unaffiliated markets, and high-speed content and VOD offerings can be promoted."
This winter, IFC will launch a student film competition that invites students who have made films as a part of their participation in the film school curriculum to upload their films to ifc.com where they can be viewed and voted on by viewers nationwide. Top ranking films will be featured on IFC and distributed to local cable affiliates as VOD offerings.
Film School was designed and developed by IFC as a public affairs initiative and is a grassroots extension of the network's 2004 docu-drama reality series from acclaimed filmmaker Nanette Burstein in which New York University film students compete for a coveted filmmaking award that could lead to the launch of a high-profile directing career.
Topics Education, an education outreach consulting firm, The National Council of Teachers of English, Media Rights, the American Film Institute and Listen Up all provided valuable input to IFC in the development of Film School. IFC structured the Film School curriculum as a unique series of educational units that tie film, film critique and film production directly to existing English classroom requirements and national English/Language Arts standards developed by NCTE and IRA and national technology standards developed by ISTE.
IFC's Film School is a free resource. Teachers and students at other schools can register at www.ifc.com/filmschool for Film School materials including:
- Film School Curriculum Lessons Plans
- On-line Expert Communities
- Multimedia Film Glossarys
- Professional Development
- Teacher Resources
- Information about Screenings
- Student Resources
- Contest to Showcase Student Works
The interrelated elements that can be accessed online, free-of-charge, are designed to give innovative teachers all the tools they need to incorporate film study and video production into their high school English/Language Arts classrooms.
About IFC Television
Launched in September 1994, The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is the first channel entirely dedicated to presenting independent film, unedited and commercially uninterrupted 24 hours a day. IFC's library boasts a collection of uncompromising stories, character and style. Committed to work struck from the creative vision of cinema's most compelling filmmakers, IFC also offers alternative films from today's new and up-and-coming artists. IFC's exclusive live coverage of special events including the Independent Spirit Awards and Cannes Film Festival, creative on-air festivals and one-of-a-kind original series and specials secures the company's role as the leader in independent film. IFC Television is one of the fastest growing digital cable networks available nationwide. For more information, visit www.ifc.com.
About Buckeye CableSystem
Buckeye CableSystem, Inc., is the largest cable firm operating in the Toledo, OH, area, with about 146,000 customers in Toledo and 27 of its contiguous suburbs and adjacent townships and about 20,000 customers in a sister system in Sandusky, OH, and 10 of its contiguous suburbs and townships.
Buckeye CableSystem®, as the firm is known for marketing purposes, offers 69 Expanded Basic channels and up to 250 Digital channels including commercial-free digital music channels, multiplexed digital premium services, high-definition TV, pay-per-view, and Video On-Demand. Buckeye CableSystem also offers residential telephony though a VoIP service, and has a tiered high-speed cable modem Internet product, a dial-up Internet product, and a Wireless Internet product. In addition, it maintains more than 2,200 miles of fiber optic and more than 2,100 miles of coaxial cable plant, and was the first cable company in the country to implement FM fiber optics to deliver entertainment television and data transmission from the system headend to three scattered hub sites for delivery to homes. It also was among the early industry leaders in the use of AM fiber optics to provide a feed-and-return link between the headend and hub sites. For more information, visit www.buckeyecablesystem.com.