Timothy Smith, Filmmaker
   

(February 2007) With the excitement from the Oscars still echoing through the newspapers and the airwaves, Riverhead High School would like to congratulate RHS student Timothy Smith, who has been selected as a participant in the William H. Cosby Future Filmmakers Workshop at NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Beginning in February, Tim will travel to New York City for 12 Saturday Workshops from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM to learn the art of filmmaking.

“It’s always been his passion,” explained his mom, Kathy Smith. “Even as a very little boy he always had a camera of some sort in his hands. Now, much of what he does ends up on a computer.”

The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television is this year’s host of the program. The Workshop is led by Carlos de Jesus, associate professor of film and television. The intensive 12-week training program identifies gifted students from traditionally underrepresented groups in the industry and provides them with training in all aspects of filmmaking. Free to participants, over 150 applicants compete for the coveted 15 spaces in the program. Participants, typically in the middle of their junior year, hail from high schools in the five boroughs of New York City, as well as from Westchester County, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Workshop provides exposure to the profession through:
- Hands-on experience in video production techniques
- Screenings and discussions of important professional works
- Discussions with professional filmmakers and Tisch faculty

In order to be among the chosen fifteen students, applicants had to demonstrate a strong previous interest and participation in the arts, academic achievement, the ability to work as a team member in producing short video projects, and a firm commitment to completing the entire workshop, which will be held on 12 Saturdays from February through May. The program culminates with a film festival featuring student works on Saturday, May 12th.

Tim, as cool as Eddie Murphy while interviewed by Barbara Walters before the Oscars, quietly acknowledges his achievement and states, “It should be fun, I’m looking forward to it.”