Ten films from ten filmmakers under twenty-one

We love discovering new talent at YouTube, and today we are presenting 10 short films made by this year’s Ghetto Film School fellows, together with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The culmination of the GFS students’ work is debuting on YouTube to coincide with a public screening at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

Over the last 15 months, the group of GFS teenage filmmakers worked with guest instructors like Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, Amy Adams, Jason Reitman, Lee Daniels, and Ed Burns to hone their storytelling skills. Three of these talented filmmakers are leaving Lincoln Center tonight with $1,000 scholarships from Google to continue advancing their artistic pursuits, and here are their works:

"Former Self" from Remery Camacho



"Mama’s Boy" from Ralston Ramsey



"Upstaged" from Antonello Velez



You can also watch all 10 of this year’s Ghetto Film School shorts on the GFS YouTube channel. Congratulations to all of the GSF fellows for their hard work!

Minjae Ormes, Movies & TV Marketing Manager, recently watched “15 Years of Film Distribution.”

On its 70th Anniversary, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane Comes to YouTube

UPDATE 9/15: We now have the first 10 minutes of Citizen Kane available to watch for free. The preview is embedded below, and you can click to rent if you'd like to see the full film.

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of its release, Orson Welles’ seminal work Citizen Kane joins the thousands of movies available on YouTube.



What makes Citizen Kane a film worthy of your attention? Let us count the ways, and find more on the YouTube Movie Extras playlist for Citizen Kane:

• American Film Institute (AFI) voted Citizen Kane the #1 “Greatest Movie of All Time.” Twice. 
• Welles and his cinematographer Gregg Toland popularized the technique of “deep focus” which makes you see everything in the fore-, middle- and background in focus. You’ve seen it in movies ranging from The Shining to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 
• Director Steven Spielberg is among many filmmakers who credit Citizen Kane as a major influence, and even paid homage to Citizen Kane in the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. 
• You almost never got to watch this film. The negatives of Citizen Kane were destroyed in a warehouse fire decades ago. Thanks to a surviving positive print and digital restoration, Citizen Kane is now on YouTube today. 

To get more into movies like Citizen Kane, check out the YouTube Movie Extras that include commentary from directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, a five second take on the film’s most iconic line and even a puppet parody.

Minjae Ormes, YouTube Movies and TV Marketing Manager, recently watched "Bernard Herrmann: A Master of Movie Music."

Love, fear and car keys

As the world is starting to see Life in a Day—the documentary distilled from 80,000 videos submitted to YouTube from 190+ countries—many people have asked us how the film is structured. Woven into the collage of videos from Australia to Zambia, from the heart of bustling cities to the remote reaches of the earth, are responses to three universal questions: What do you love? What do you fear? What’s in your pocket? Check out some of the answers to these questions in the Life in a Day trailer:



To celebrate the one year anniversary of Life in a Day’s filming date, we’d love to hear your answer to these questions. So tell us, what do you love, what do you fear and what’s in your pocket? Upload a video to YouTube, share a photo on Google+, tweet us with the #lifeinaday hashtag and invite your family and friends to join. Let’s spark a dialogue and continue the passion of Life in a Day by highlighting the things that connect us across the globe.

For more information about Life in a Day and where to see it this weekend, visit the Life in a Day channel.

Raymond Braun, Entertainment Marketing, recently watched “Life in a Day Teaser #1: Slim Up.”

Tickets available for Life in a Day screening in 90 U.S. cities this weekend

Life in a Day, the documentary directed by Oscar-winner Kevin MacDonald, produced by Ridley Scott and made out of thousands of YouTube clips, has been inspiring audiences from the Sundance Film Festival to the Berlin Film Festival to the Sydney Film Festival.

On July 24, one year after thousands of you submitted videos to be a part of the film, many of you across the United States will finally have a chance to see the finished project on the big screen! Check out the channel for a list of the 90 U.S. cities where the film will play this weekend, ranging from Los Angeles, CA to Louisville, KY to Providence, RI to Dallas, TX.

Critics have called the film “ingenious and warmhearted,” an “amazing compilation of videos…[that] is one for the ages” and “a spellbinding montage depicting a day in the life of the planet Earth.”

If you don’t see your town listed, don’t panic. You can still vote to bring the film to a theater near you after its theatrical release on July 29 and the folks at National Geographic will do their best to get it to you.

This is your film, and now’s your chance to see a piece of film history!

Sara Pollack, Entertainment Marketing Lead, recently watched “Cobra vs. Mongoose.”

Life in a Day: request a screening, create a trailer and more

Today, we’ve got some exciting updates from editor Joe Walker and Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald about Life in a Day, the documentary shot by YouTube users about a single day on Earth.

First, as we previously announced, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the film’s making, there will be a sneak-peek premiere in cities across the US on July 24, five days before National Geographic begins to release the film in theaters nationwide. If you want Life in a Day to play in your town, visit the Life in a Day channel and request a screening. National Geographic, in partnership with Cinedigm, will collect your requests from now through August, and will try to bring the film to those towns and cities where the demand is highest (either for the July 24 premiere or the following release).

Second, you can also check out the Life in a Day Trailer Remixer. If you haven't already seen the trailer, we recommend watching it. After that, go to the Life in a Day channel or directly to the Remixer page, where you can edit and publish your own trailer to share with your friends and the world. All of the trailers will appear on the Life in a Day channel, and National Geographic may feature some of their favorites at the film’s premiere.





One more exciting announcement: Life in a Day opened theatrically this weekend in the United Kingdom to critical acclaim! According to a critic from The Telegraph, the 5-star film is "Extraordinary…the summer's most inspiring film." For users in the US, don't fret: National Geographic is bringing the film to theaters across the country in late July.

Be sure to subscribe to the Life in a Day channel for all the latest news, and check out the Life in a Day Facebook page for daily updates.

Nate Weinstein, Entertainment Marketing Manager, recently watched the "Life in a Day Trailer."