Charitable Film Network

Chairs in Suite 101 of the Colton School are still aligned from an awards ceremony held for students in the Charitable Film Network’s (CFN) claymation class. Teachers, partners, and various students still linger. The room is large and almost like a storage space for forgotten arts and crafts creations. Pianos fill one corner of the space, while tables, chairs and miscellaneous colorful sculptures and drawings dot the rest.

Just upon entering one can get the sense of what CFN and its founder Jerald White are trying to achieve: “connecting people who work in media to good causes,” says White.

After a warm introduction White continues to stand, sifting through papers before taking a seat. It is one of the last days CFN will have their offices at Colton as plans for it to return to a functioning school have been implemented.

Mr. White describes himself as a lawyer by trade. After moving to New Orleans in 1994 to work with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, then living in DC while working for the Senate, he went to film school. When he returned to the Crescent City he took his new-found talent and passion and started doing documentary work, in addition to establishing CFN. “Film is a great way to reach people, build relationships and education the public.”

Keeping with the improvisational vibe New Orleans embodies, the CFN has an organic flow in how the organization helps individuals or groups that approach them, “people come to us and we’ll say, ‘sure.’ We’ll try and find support they need and orchestrate what needs to happen…lots of folks have really good skills and want to help rebuild the city but don’t always know where to plug in their talent and their time. We try to help facilitate that kind of process.”

Understanding the need to work together and share information is another element of CFN that White emphasizes, “if we hear about info or opportunities, we share it with everybody…the reality is we don’t have the luxury of not collaborating.”

From its very beginning, the CFN has functioned as the center of a multi spoke wheel trying to improve the city and help residents who want to actively do the same thing. “We are all over the place. I’m down to work with anybody that wants to do something to make this city better. And it doesn’t have to be anything huge. We need more examples of everyday people deciding that they want to fix something and take care of it. That’s what we don’t have enough of.”

Two upcoming projects the CFN is involved with illustrate the organization’s diverse outreach efforts and partnerships. Both endeavors primarily engage in shaping the welfare of youth in New Orleans.

“The kids are amazing in this city. They have been through hell and back and they are still trying to make things happen.”

Working together with Reggie Lawson of Crescent City Peace and Alliance, the CFN plans to branch into the political arena to form what is tentatively called YPAC (Youth Political Action Committee). The committee will hopefully bring kids from different parts of the city together to form their own youth agenda for the upcoming mayor’s race, says White. “The goal is to have a forum in which candidates will answer questions coming directly from New Orleans youth.”

Also on CFN’s horizon (and funded by the Greater New Orleans Foundation) is an Environmental Justice film competition. With his roots in this very field, Mr. White explains that the competition is to educate young people about the principles of the movement and encourage them to tell stories on the topic. The competition will also address key leaders of the campaign, whose contributions have been essential to its survival and continued expansion.

“What I’d like to see come out of it is, beyond awareness, we want people we partner with-including the New Orleans Institute and Greater New Orleans Foundation-to have some kind of statement on Environmental Justice.”

Since the CFN is currently focusing on a screening that will concentrate on the struggle surrounding New Orleans Vietnamese community and the landfill being placed next to their neighborhood, the competition is slated for next year. While it will mostly include the work of New Orleans high school students, it will nonetheless be a national competition.

While numerous frustrations surrounding the lack of funding for our city’s amazing talent linger, White maintains that working together to solve problems is an essential element to success: “you can’t put a price on a community deciding that its gonna change things for the better. You can get a bizillion grants but if a community decides that it’s going to determine what its capacity is to change things you can’t put a price tag on that.”

Contact information
mail@charitablefilmnetwork.org or webmaster@bottletreeproductions.com

CHARITABLE FILM NETWORK
c/o Bottletree Productions, LLC
Post Office Box 51687
New Orleans, LA 70151