The 2011 DocMiami International Film Festival nominates MY COUNTRY IS TIBET for Best Short Documentary. Described as a festival with a cause — FILM, MUSIC, HOPE — DocMiami offers three days of cutting edge documentary films and three nights of outstanding music concerts.

MY COUNTRY IS TIBET is presented at the 34th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), the country’s longest-running festival dedicated to showcasing works by artists of Asian descent. BYkids Filmmaker Namgyal Wangchuk Trichen Lhagyari wins The One to Watch award for Youth Filmmaker. TIBET soon begins traveling across the country in AAIFF’s yearlong National Festival Tour.

MY COUNTRY IS TIBET is featured as an Official Selection in the 2011 Action On Film International Film Festival in Pasadena, CA. Launched in 2004, the prestigious festival is one of the fastest growing, high profile international venues in the film and video industry.

New York City composer Javier Arau, signs on to create an original sound score for Jayshree Janu Kharpade’s film, FIRE IN OUR HEARTS. Jayshree begins writing the film’s narration and designing its title graphics, assisted by the pro-bono support of the award-winning brand and design strategy firm, Korn Design.

BYkids is delighted to announce that Alex Mabred and Zara Leventhal will be the 2011 BYkids Summer Interns. Alex, originally from Paris, received his BA in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee and works as a theater actor in New York. Zara is a sophomore at Stuyvesant High School in New York and has a deep interest in world cultures, writing and theater.

The 2011 BYkids Benefit gathers a sold-out crowd at the stunning home of Hilary and Joe Adams for a sneak peek of FIRE IN OUR HEARTS, made by 16-year-old Jayshree Janu Kharpade of India. Hosted by Asia Society President, Vishakha Desai, The Economist’s Gideon Lichfield and our Film Mentor, Joyce Chopra, the festive evening raises over $30,000.

Film Mentor Susan Hoenig flies to Cali, Colombia, to work with 16-year-old Maria Ceballos Paz on the filming of BYkids:COLOMBIA. Susan is joined by New York filmmaker Carmen Vidal Balanvat on second camera and BYkids Program Associate Gaby Campagna who provides translation and logistical support. See Notes from the Field.

The Ford Foundation awards BYkids a $75,000 grant to complete our first series of five films and to further extend our outreach.

Google inc. selects BYkids to participate in its Google Grants Program. The $120,000 in-kind gift leverages the power of AdWords™ to develop and engage potential stakeholders and supporters.

Film Mentor Joyce Chopra heads to Mumbai to begin working with our third young filmmaker, 16-year-old Jayshree Janu Kharpade of India. Second camerawoman Cat Papadimitriou assists Joyce, and the two recount their exciting adventure in Notes from the Field.

Film legends Joyce Chopra and Albert Maysles work with us to make our next BYkids films. Albert will soon begin teaching the art of filmmaking to a Muslim teen in New York City. The film will open our eyes to the impact of religious intolerance on young people. In January, Joyce will travel to India to work with Jayshree, who’s story shows us the social and economic necessity for educating young girls in the developing world.

MY COUNTRY IS TIBET, by 17-year-old Trichen, is nominated for the MY HERO Film Festival’s RON KOVIC PEACE AWARD, which celebrates peace and those around the world working for non-violence and an end to war. MY HERO creates educational programs using media and technology to celebrate the best of humanity and to empower young people to realize their own potential to effect positive change in the world.

The film is also an official selection at the Sun Valley Film Festival and the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival announces that BYkids film MY COUNTRY IS TIBET has been chosen for the 2010 Main Festival Program. Out of thousands of entries, TIBET is one of 30 films to be featured in this prestigious festival.

Thanks to the Ford Foundation’s ongoing support, BYkids has attracted more world-class talent to our board. Now under the leadership of Chair Lucy Price, new board members include writer/film producer Hilary Adams, social entrepreneur Tamsin Smith of the PRODUCT (RED) campaign, political journalist Michelle Mitchell and business leader Eduardo Martinez.

BYkids is invited to UN Headquarters in New York to present our work to the 2010 United Nations Youth Assembly. Over 50 youth leaders from around the world attend a BYkids screening of MOZAMBIQUE and participate in a BYkids workshop on the power of film as a leverage for political action.

TEDxRedmond screens BYkids film, HOME, for their annual conference held at the Microsoft Conference Center. TEDxRedmond, a conference “by kids, for kids”, was launched by 12-year-Adora Svitak, teacher, author and celebrated TED speaker. Adora describes BYkids as “wonderful… both for the filmmakers who have the chance to share their stories, and also for those of us watching them and learning more about their lives.”

BYkids Founder/Executive Director Holly Carter travels to Bogota and Cali, Colombia to search for a young filmmaker for our next film, BYkids:COLOMBIA. Colombia’s overwhelming number of displaced people – second only to the Sudan – is primarily driven by civil war and drug-related violence. Mentored by Hollywood great Susan Hoenig, our young Colombian filmmaker begins filming in March, 2011, and will surely bring insight to a social and political crisis that is ravaging the lives of millions of Colombians.

BYkids recognizes the impressive and highly committed work of our Summer 2010 Intern, Connor Cowdon. 15-year-old Connor, a sophomore at Dalton in New York City, brings thorough, in-depth research, strategy development and administrative support to BYkids’ hugely successful agenda of summer events.

The New York Times »
The Daily Beast »
CNN »
Voice of America »
Radio Free Asia »
Tonic »

At only twelve years old Namgyal Wangchuk Trichen Lhagyari was the only recognized descendent of the first Dharma King of Tibet Songsten Gampo, who died in 698 A.D. Carrying the unique responsibility of representing Tibet’s unbroken history and heritage, Namgyal was crowned by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in June 2004 in Dharamsala, India where he still lives, in exile.
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The Human Rights Watch and Adobe Youth Voices traveling program continues and a 12-minute version of our Mozambique film will screen in San Francisco on March 11 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and in London on March 19 at the Ritzy and March 20 at the ICA. The San Francisco Examiner says about our film, “Beautifully filmed, and presented with grace, it had me in tears.”

Editing of MY COUNTRY IS TIBET is finished with help from an extraordinary group of talented producers and editors and with the distinct voice and direction of our young filmmaker. Plans are underway for a gala screening for May 20, 2010 in Manhattan to coincide with the New York City visit of the Dalai Lama.

Paul, Hastings, the international law firm, is the new pro bono counsel for BYkids. Attorneys Erika C. Collins, Robert Sherman and Lisa Willis have generously agreed to help with our copyright, trademark and contract work. “It is an honor for the firm to represent you,” said Ms. Collins, a partner in the firm.

A 12-minute version of our Mozambique film is one of ten films selected from 300 as part of the second annual Youth Producing Change series (a collaboration between Adobe Youth Voices and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival) to screen at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. “The Adobe Foundation is proud to partner with Human Rights Watch in providing a platform for these remarkable young filmmakers to explore and comment on their world,” says Michelle Mann, executive director of the Adobe Foundation. “By calling attention to human rights issues, these youth are inspiring audiences worldwide and demonstrating the power to express ideas, engage stakeholders and effect change through digital media.”

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT wins Best of the Fest and the Dan Eldon Activist Award in the My Hero Short Film Festival, at the University of Southern California’s Norris Theater. In addition to well-deserved kudos and bravos, young filmmaker Alcides Soares receives a $2,000 cash prize that will support his next film.

Griffin Adams, a member of the Junior Board and a senior at the Collegiate School in New York, assembled 250 Collegiate high school students for a screening, discussion and lunch with Holly Carter. The reviews from the audience were heartwarming. “Watching the movie made me feel the problem…I felt involved and affected,” said one student. And Laura Hansen head of the upper school, offered this: “BYkids allows American youth to become genuinely engaged in the lives of young people from places far away, using the power of story to help turn strangers into friends.”

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT screens in Berlin at the Globian DocFest and is chosen for the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Festival and the South African Film Festival.

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT wins first place Directorial Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and best Documentary Short at DocuWest. Congratulations to Alcides and the many people who made the film possible.

HOME IS WHERE YOU FIND IT premieres at SilverDocs and Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York with Alcides Soares, our young director from Mozambique, in attendance with both his mentors. He is poetic and inspiring.

The BYkids gala benefit - hosted by TODAY show anchor, Natalie Morales - is a resounding success and raises over $55,000 toward the third BYkids film to be done in Colombia by a displaced young girl. 200 guests see the Mozambique film and enjoy a festive and global evening in lower Manhattan. Photos at www.bykids.org.

BYkids Film Mentor, Dirk Simon, returns to India to continue helping Namgyal, the exiled King of Tibet, tell his incredible story. Namgyal narrates MY COUNTRY IS TIBET while they are together and final production begins.

New Board Chair and Film Mentor Neal Baer arranges to have Alcides Soares spend three weeks studying English before his voice-over work in the Henry Mancini Sound Studio at NBC/Universal in Los Angeles. 18-year-old Alcides, the star filmmaker of BYkids: MOZAMBIQUE, will narrate his own 27-minute film. Upon completion of the voice-over and final touches in the editing room, the film will start the film festival circuit.

The BYkids Junior Committee, led by 18-year-old Committee Chair Sophie Bressler, begins planning for the second BYkids annual benefit to be held at the Scholastic Auditorium in Soho, NYC on May 16th. The festive celebration will be the venue for the premiere of BYkids: Mozambique by 18-year-old Alcides Soares of Maputo, Mozambique.

Top web designers from Razorfish chose BYkids as the nonprofit venture to feature in an “Experiencing Design” course taught to undergraduates at MIT. BYkids Founder and Executive Director, Holly Carter, travels to MIT to present the BYkids story as a real-time case study and works with the students on new design ideas for BYkids web portals. Nadya Direkova of Razorfish reflects, “Working with a ‘client’ is a very important experience for a designer, especially working for a meaningful cause such as BYkids; this was a great learning experience for the students! Thank you for coming in person, for presenting your cause with an open mind and passion.”

BYkids receives its first major foundation grant for $101,000 from the Ford Foundation. A significant gesture of confidence from this prestigious foundation, the Ford Foundation’s generous commitment to BYkids will bring meaningful institutional support to near- and mid-range development strategies.

BYkids: MOZAMBIQUE (the first film being done by 16-year-old Alcides Soares, who was orphaned by AIDS last year) starts editing through the generosity of NBC/Universal. The editor, Michael Schweitzer, won the best editing award last year at Sundance for the film, Nanking. Film Mentor, Neal Baer, has arranged for Alcides to come to L.A. in August to do an intensive English program so he can narrate his own film. He will also work closely with the editor in the editing room. 

Sophie Bressler, a Chappaqua 17-year-old with a passion for BYkids, organizes an amazing fundraiser on May 10 that raises over $50,000. Held at the Times Center in Manhattan, Ford Models donate their time to model fashions from leading designers including Milly, Nili Lotan and Keiko. Mrz Smith performs, as does Morley, who movingly sings with a young friend from South Africa who was orphaned by AIDS. They perform after the Mozambique trailer is shown. Sophie will chair the 2009 Benefit and a newly formed Junior Board of Directors - Kids Supporting Kids. See photos of the May 10 Benefit »

BYkids makes history at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences/NY, where BYkids presents its program to a group of Academy members. Our new Board Chair and Film Mentor, Neal Baer, brings the cast of Law and Order: SVU. Film Mentor, Dirk Simon, is there and the exiled King of Tibet connects by speaker phone for a rare, inside view of how this nation and it’s exiled leaders are dealing with life.

The Women’s International Film and Television Showcase (December 4-7, 2008 in Hollywood) supports BYkids with some of the proceeds from their upcoming event. “BYkids is a brilliant idea and embraces our ethos that the determination of an individual woman to think, see and do things differently can make a difference,” says WIFTS founder, Elspeth Tavares.

Award-winning filmmaker, Dirk Simon, has been in Dharamsala, India mentoring the 16-year-old, exiled King of Tibet in the art of filmmaking. Namgyal Wangchuk, is making a film about his life. With Tibetan news on the front pages, this is a rare and intimate view.

Namgyal Wangchuk, the descendant of the Greatest King in Tibetan History, Songtsen Gampo, was born in Indian exile and has never seen the country of his forefathers. The weight of keeping a 1,400-year-old lineage alive rests on his shoulders and “it’s simply not safe for him to go,” explains his mother. Even before riots broke out in Lhasa’s streets, in order to get a visa for China and Tibet, he would have to sign a paper that identifies him as Chinese - giving up his Tibetan identity. “And that is impossible!” he says.

BYkids is named a semifinalist in the 2008 Echoing Green fellowship competition out of 1,500 applications.

Through BYkids, Alcides Soares finds his 13-year-old brother with whom he lost all contact ten years ago when their parents divorced. A BYkids camera is sent back to Mozambique so that Alcides can film their reunion – where he tells his brother about the loss of both of their parents to AIDS.

BYkids wins three major foundation grants totaling $45,000. Additional grass roots funding enables the second BYkids film – the exiled King of Tibet – a story of perseverance in the face of oppression. The 16-year-old Namgyal Wangchuk Trichen Lhagyari, the only living descendent of the first Dharma King of Tibet (617-698 AD), begins filming in February 2008 under the mentorship of award-winning filmmaker Dirk Simon.

Peter Scarlet, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Festival, agrees to premiere final films in the festival to a large and committed New York audience of 250,000 people.

Teens For BYkids, a youth-organized BYkids development program, is launched. High school junior Sophie Bressler initiates planning for a fundraising designer fashion show to be held on May 10, 2008, at the newly opened Times Center in NYC. Seventeen-year-old Ben Laflamme begins designing a BYkids shirt to be sold at his high school.

Board member Alan Murray, Executive Editor of The Wall Street Journal Online, hosts a fundraiser for 40 BYkids supporters. At the event, BYkids Founder and Executive Director Holly Carter announces that Neal Baer has the support of NBC Universal to make the first BYkids film into a full-length feature documentary. “There is so much here, it will make an incredible film,” says Neal.