Teens with a Movie Camera Puts “Community” on the Big Screen
Watson Theatre became a window into the creative minds of Syracuse youth, hosting a reel of short films and behind-the-scenes clips born out of the program 'Teens with a Movie Camera.'
Founded by Evan Bode, Mišo Suchy, and Lida Suchy, Teens with a Movie Camera is a relatively new project, starting January 2024, that seeks to create a safe space for Syracuse-area teens to experiment with various art forms, including filmmaking, performance art, and photography.
Sunday's screening (Feb. 2), supported in part by the Syracuse University Humanities Center, revealed a kaleidoscope of storytelling approaches and artistic interpretations by students — from experimentation with stop-motion animation, to anime-inspired sequences, to slice-of-life vignettes capturing candid moments of teenage existence. The reel also featured deeply personal works, including an account of a student's immigration journey from Afghanistan and her current pursuit of education.
Video melded into video, forming a digital mosaic that echoed the Humanities Center's 2024-2025 Syracuse Symposium theme, “Community,” as seen through the eyes of Syracuse youth. Each frame offered a perspective that, when stitched together, painted a broader picture of the world these young artists navigate.
A Q&A session followed the screening, where the young filmmakers shared insights into their creative processes and how the program has influenced their views on art, technology, and the world around them. The students revealed how these weekly workshops had a transformative impact on their relationship to their phones: suddenly, these devices became tools for storytelling rather than mere streams of consumption.
Evan Bode, one of the program’s founders and leaders, emphasized the importance of a program like Teens with a Movie Camera in fostering inclusivity and self-expression, particularly for under-resourced and marginalized youth.
“Whenever you point a camera at something, you're saying that it matters. To show themselves and their lives, and to project that onto a big screen, can be an affirming experience,” Bode said. “Their voices matter and their perspectives matter, in a world where they might not always feel that.”
As Teens with a Movie Camera prepares to embark on its next chapter of filmmaking, soon to begin its third round of weekly filmmaking sessions, the program solidifies its mission: amplifying young voices, fostering creativity, and nurturing a sense of belonging. Through the simple act of pressing record, these young filmmakers are not just documenting their world — they’re shaping it.
“The arts can connect people. And being creative isn't just about the product that gets made, but also the process of making it, and the connections that can be made in that process. So art can serve not only as a form of personal expression but also community building,” said Bode. “That’s something I’ve really learned through the experience of actually seeing it happen.”