3 BEHIND THE VEIL Curriculum BACKGROUND By documenting early short films and those involved in their creation, the American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog is working to expand the scope of scholarship, to bring disparate perspectives into view and to explore the complexities of American film history. A short film is typically under 40 minutes; however, the short films in this curriculum will be under 15 minutes, so they can be screened and discussed during an average high school class period. This curriculum is designed to help young people learn more about film history, specifically works by filmmakers who have been generally overlooked by historians because they were making shorts instead of features. Additionally, through critical analysis and hands-on production, students will explore how their personal stories can be shared through filmmaking. “Film scholarship has long favored feature-length titles, and this partiality has significantly limited historians’ efforts to study how people from diverse communities made films and how they saw themselves on screen. Behind the Veil is essential to working toward establishing a more inclusive and accurate canon of American film history. Documenting short film creators will provide opportunities for discovering the work of storytellers who have been excluded to date and open new doors of possibility for a more authentic account of America’s cultural legacy.” –Sarah Blankfort Clothier, Manager of the AFI Catalog “For short film cinephiles, this is an enormously exciting time as shorts are more visible and easier to access than ever before. Certainly, the most profound recent development is the easier online availability of both old and new titles, which has elevated the fortunes of the short film so dramatically that film critics have declared we are in the midst of a period of ‘renaissance’ and ‘rebirth.’” –Cynthia Felando, Author, Professor, and Short Film Scholar This curriculum outline is informed by the Universal Design for Learning Framework (The UDL Guidelines), which asks educators to consider multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression/action when designing curricula. To engage all learners, the curriculum seeks to provide a diverse selection of short films representing a multitude of identities and issues, with the hope that young people can see themselves in the films and the people who created them. In this curriculum, we ask young people to explore themes of representation and identity, both in their analysis of short films and through their creative productions.
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