For Immediate Release
February 1, 2006

City Projects Presents "MY CITY NOW"
National Media Literacy Program taking place in Nine U.S. Cities

Contact Information:
Jennifer Kobzik (213) 437-1301 
jennifer@cityprojects.net      

Shaunese Teamer, (773) 509-5441
steamer@wttw.com

For the program companion website, visit www.cityprojects.net and www.mycitynow.org

MY CITY NOW, a national outreach campaign for the PBS documentary Los Angeles Now presents the FUTURE FILMMAKER CONTEST taking place in: Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and San Francisco.

High School students throughout these cities are now competing to make their own 3-mintue short documentary about either the past, present or future of the city they live in.  Selected finalists from each city will web-stream their short documentaries at www.mycitynow.org for a final online vote to determine the winning documentaries.  The online vote will take place from February 6th to February 17th, 2006.  Voting is open to all.  The grand prize winner will receive a new turn-key editing system.  Runners-up will receive prizes ranging from camcorders to computer software. 

The FUTURE FILMMAKER CONTEST is the final event for MY CITY NOW, which kicked off during Hispanic Heritage Month 2005 with the re-broadcast of Los Angeles Now; and a series of traveling Future Filmmaker Workshops.  (visit www.cityprojects.net for more information).

MY CITY NOW and the PBS documentary Los Angeles Now are designed to provoke conversations about the future of our cities among Americans of different generations and ethnicities.

Los Angeles Now is a fascinating look at a city where more than half of the population is Latino and 40 percent are foreign born. The film includes conversations with a broad range of Los Angeles figures, from actor Salma Hayek and sports figure Phil Jackson to renowned author and essayist Richard Rodriguez and Cardinal Roger Mahony. 

Far-reaching and thought-provoking, the issues explored in Los Angeles Now are relevant well beyond the borders of the city. Many agree that Los Angeles serves as a diagnostic for other urban centers. Cities from Hartford to Las Vegas inevitably face the influx of immigrants, cultural confrontations and urban sprawl. Today 1 in 7 residents is Latino within the U.S.  Los Angeles Now provides a much-needed starting point for imagining our American future.

The Future Filmmaker Workshops  introduced filmmaking tools and techniques to high school students while creating dialogue and activities designed to bring high school students and senior citizens together.  The workshops also prepared students with the theoretical and technical skills needed to create their own 3-minute short documentary for THE FUTURE FILMMAKING CONTEST.

MY CITY NOW is brought to you by City Projects with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The Skirball Foundation. Travel for the program was provided by Southwest Airlines.