An Introduction to Short-Form Filmmaking with Isidore Bethel - Winter 2022

This is a new addition to our continuing weekly workshops run by the publishers of Stone Soup, the literary magazine and website 100% written by young people through age 13 since its inception in 1973.

In Winter 2022, Isidore Bethel is running a series of 10 sessions. You may sign up later in the series; the price is prorated each week to discount for any sessions missed.

In this class, writing first-person texts, recording still images and short videos, and interpreting their meanings aloud will be starting points for developing individual approaches to filmmaking. Over the course of our time together, students will brainstorm, workshop, edit, and present a short film. Discussing and writing about other filmmakers and their work will complement our own filmmaking journeys. The class will favor examples from nonfiction and first-person filmmaking, where a film's stakes spill over into real life.

This class attracts students from the United States and Europe. It takes place each Saturday, apart from the last of the month, at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. This is noon Eastern Time, 5 p.m. in Ireland and the UK, and 6 p.m. in France and continental Europe.

Questions? Write to us at [email protected].

Who is the class for?

This is a class for highly motivated young artists who want to be challenged. Possession of a camera or phone that can take video is required. We expect that students will have basic editing knowledge, and know how to use editing features on a phone or computer program, even just a little bit.

If you have a question about whether this class is appropriate for your child, then please write to us at [email protected]. Founder William Rubel will be happy to talk to you and your child over the phone or in a privately scheduled Zoom meeting.

About the Instructor:

Isidore Bethel is a director, editor, and producer, whose filmmaking focuses on moments where individuals reinvent themselves through storytelling. His directorial debut Liam received the Paris LGBTQ+ Film Festival’s Jury Prize in 2018, and his second feature Acts of Love premiered at Hot Docs in 2021. His work as editor and producer has screened at Cannes (Official Selection and ACID), on Netflix, on US public television, at the Museum of Modern Art, and at the Pompidou Center, receiving 16 festival awards, a Mexican Academy and European Film Academy nomination, and a New York Times Critic's Pick. He has mentored filmmakers through programs such as the Aristoteles Workshop in Romania, UnionDocs in New York, Sundance's Art of Editing fellowship, and Doc Amazonie Caraïbe in French Guiana. He is a US and French citizen and has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Parsons Paris, and France's national film school, La Fémis. Filmmaker Magazine included him among its “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2020.

Schedule: January through March 2022

January 22 — Workshop 1

January 29 — Workshop 2

February 5 — Workshop 3

February 12 — Workshop 4

February 19 — Workshop 5

February 26 — Workshop 6

March 5 — Workshop 7

March 12 — Workshop 8

March 19 — Workshop 9

March 26 — Workshop 10

Host or Publisher Stone Soup Magazine, 100% written by students 8-13, since 1973.