A Princeville-based youth camp is working to provide greater accessibility to North Carolina students interested in documentary filmmaking and the historic town’s past.
The free four-week Freedom Hill Youth Media Camp aims to teach students 14-19 the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking while they conduct interviews, delve into oral history and explore archives related to America’s first black chartered town. This program will culminate in a student-produced short documentary about Princeville’s annual Homecoming celebration.
The camp is a program by Freedom Org, a Tarboro nonprofit founded by activist Marquetta Dickens, who was the key subject in “Freedom Hill,” an award-winning 2022 documentary about Princeville’s struggles with environmental racism and flooding — the town was inundated in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd. The film’s producer and director, Resita Cox, leads the camp.
This year marks the camp’s third installment. Micaiah Knight, a senior at Southwest Edgecombe High School, participated in last year’s camp where she learned to come out of her shell and had a chance to meet neighbors she might never have thought to speak to, she said. Her interest in filmmaking started young, she said, with a dollar store camera on a family trip.
“I wouldn’t say I was very shy, but I had struggles speaking to other people and it is very difficult for me to actually put myself out there,” said Knight. “In film camp ... I had to interview everybody. I had to talk to people and I had to come up with questions. It was just interesting, just putting myself in a placement I had never been in before.”
Knight moved to Pinetops from Raleigh two years ago at the beginning of her junior year of high school. She said this was the first year her school offered an African American history course. While Princeville was brought up, she said exploring the citizenry’s perspective has been more comprehensive.
“It’s so interesting going somewhere and literally, honestly, learning from the people that lived there,” Knight said. “With the projects, I feel like what really stood out to me was the interviews. They’re not playing. Everything the people are saying is authentic and they’re expressing their true feelings and emotions. I feel like that’s so beautiful to capture. It feels amazing.”
Now that she has learned from her neighbors, Knight’s next project will be about her own family’s story. She said the camp helped her feel confident in filming something personal for anyone to see.
“I haven’t lived down here in this area for long, but every day I do learn something more,” Knight said. “It just piques my interest even more about this place and this community, the community we had before the floods. My mom lived here, we’re from here. My mom’s here, a lot of my cousins are here. Family I’d never met before, and they have such vast stories that are so beautiful, and that are lost because of the flood.
“I do feel like there will be a sense of uncomfortability, but at the same time what I’ve learned is if you’re doing it for the right reasons you will find your audience.”
Trinidee Jones attended the first Youth Media Camp in 2022 and is now in her first year at Guilford Technical Community College in her hometown of Greensboro. Coming from the city, she said she was enamored with the natural beauty of Edgecombe County but shocked at the historic impact from floods and storms like Floyd and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
“I’d never even heard of Princeville before,” Jones said. “Being from North Carolina, I really like the views of being on the eastern side, the country side.
“I didn’t know what to expect. It was a really sad story, everything that happened with the floods and the damage that was done, not everybody being able to get a lot of help as far as being able to build back up their homes and everything.”
Even amid that, Jones said she was touched at the warmth of the community at the annual homecoming. Both she and Knight said Cox invites filmmaking professionals to the camp, too, which gives students the opportunity to network and learn from people who specialize in specific fields like sound design.
The camp runs July 23-Aug. 15 and is accepting applications now through May 31. Applicants must be 14-19, able to provide their own travel, be able to participate in the full four weeks, and have their own device to complete camp assignments.
Students will receive a stipend of up to $1,000 for their full participation and completion of the camp. Visit bit.ly/3UBSj5J for the application.
Most Popular
Comments / 0