Fauntauzzi brothers teach photography/video production at the Bliss

The Clinched Fist Productions brothers Eli and Kahlil Jacobs-Fauntauzzi are in Belize. The brothers were here in 2008 to promote their documentary Inventos Hip Hop Cubano. But this time they are here primarily to be a part of the Institute of Creative Arts summer program for youths.  While Kahlil concentrates on photography, Eli will be tutoring youths on the essentials of video production.

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Film Maker

“I’m here in Belize doing a video workshop at the NICH Summer Arts Institute. We’re starting tonight; I’m looking forward to it. I’m teaching the youth about video production, how to tell stories and kinda learning the skills that they’ll need to make their own. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Jose Sanchez

“As a film maker, where has it taken you in terms of your experience?”

Eli Jacobs

“Wow man, my films have taken me all over the world; South Africa, Ghana, West Africa, it’s taken me here to Belize and so that’s kinda why I wanna teach the youths some of these skills so that they can  travel and see the world; it’s a beautiful place.”

Kahlil Jacobs- Fantauzzi, Photographer

“I’m going to be teaching photography class and we’re gonna be covering everything from the difference between film and digital photography and then learning different skills in terms of how to operate cameras and how to get an amazing shot. And also, we’re trying to teach young people and people that are interested in film, the vocabulary so that they can analyze film and photos and be able to understand the story that’s sometimes not written.”

Jose Sanchez

“Belize, like other Latin and Caribbean countries, have a story to tell. Do you see that there are stories that you can get these students to tell?”

Kahlil Jacobs- Fantauzzi

“I know that there are stories and I know that a lot of the times, young people don’t have the resources necessary—especially in developing countries—they don’t have the resources to tell their stories. So we hope to empower them, to give them the knowledge and the skills to be able to utilize whatever it is that they have and make it work to tell their story.”

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi

“We’re looking for ages fifteen to adult, but if they have a computer laptop or a camera we encourage them to bring it. But they don’t need anything, we have everything there and we’re just going to be going over the skills and what it takes to do these productions and get hands on and actually make or create something at the end.”

You can contact the Institute of Creative Arts for further details on the classes which start today.  Before they leave, at the end of the two week course the brothers will also premiere at the Bliss, a documentary on hip- hop in Ghana that they having been working on summer holidays for the last ten years.