Donna Hernandez

Harlem Youth Exposes Teen Homelessness at Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

by Cynthia Carrion

Each night 1,600 teenagers in New York City find themselves homeless. Harlem’s own Clevins Browne and Olivia McClendon take this issue on as part of Youth Producing Change, an innovative program of youth-produced short films from across the globe, presented on June 19-20, 2009, by the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival(June 11-25), in collaboration with the founding presenter, Adobe Youth Voices. Ten films will be shown this year, selected from over 300 international submissions.

“Most people don’t realize that youth homelessness is an issue and are blind to the fact that there are so many teens without homes and in need of basic services. I want to start by bringing people’s awareness to this very real and very local situation and challenge people’s perspectives on and stereotypes of homeless youth. Through this documentary, I hope to affect change. I feel strongly that we can stop youth homelessness by taking a stand and making our society aware that they play a part in the solution. In My Shoes gives us a platform to tell our stories and take action,” says Clevins Browne.

Tickets are available online.

Posted at 9:13 AM, Jun 05, 2009 in Upcoming Events | Permalink | View Comments