Following several years of pandemic isolation, Hudson Valley Community College student Kercel Montes was struggling to break out of his shell. After completing his junior year at Albany High, he got accepted into a summer program at Youth FX, a nonprofit that focuses on giving underserved, diverse and minority youth in the Capital Region not just fun filmmaking experiences but legitimate digital editing and media production skills that can translate into career paths.
“Kercel joined our summer program last year, and we could see immediately this was the kind of kid we’d been waiting for,” says Bhawin Suchak, co-founder and co-executive director of Youth FX, which he started with fellow filmmaker Darian Henry in 2008 as a small summer program. Since then, it’s become a common extracurricular offered at many Capital Region schools and libraries.
“At its core, Youth FX helps young people tell stories as a form of empowerment and agency-building,” continues Suchak, whose background in journalism and education led him to teach filmmaking. “We work closely with a small group of students who then become leaders and voices in their community.”
Films produced by former students have won awards and been screened at major film festivals nationwide, including Tribeca. As for Montes, he’s also doing well—he was recently invited to document a student trip to Albany’s sister city in the Netherlands. “That’s because of his work as a filmmaker,” says Suchak. “Filmmaking is inherently a collaborative process. Sometimes we say it’s just an excuse to build community.”
Suchak is one of 10 honorees featured in the holiday issues of Saratoga Living and Capital Region Living. Join him and nine others at our 6th annual Capital Region Gives Back event, returning to Putnam Place at 6pm on December 11.
