San Francisco Film Society

The San Francisco Film Society today announced the creation of the Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund endowed by SFFS board member Penelope Wong and her husband, Tim Kochis, to honor the memory of Penelope's mother, Nellie Wong (1917-2007), who was an avid filmgoer and cinephile. The Magic of Movies Education Fund has been developed to support the year-round efforts of the SFFS Education Program, with the particular aims of cultivating students' imaginations, enhancing their critical thinking and creative writing skills and instilling a greater appreciation for the magic of movies in young audiences of the Bay Area.

To that end the Fund will support the Film Society's first annual Schools at the Festival Student Essay Content at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (April 24-May 8, 2008).
Students in grades 2-12 attending select Schools at the Festival screenings of Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, JUMP!, 1000 Journals, Secrecy, Stay Tooned, Kids! and Up the Yangtze at SFIFF51 are invited to submit an essay about their experience and their responses to the film(s) they saw. Winning essays will be determined based on creativity, depth, enthusiasm, clarity and grammar. The prizes include VIP tickets to a special preview screening of the new animated feature WALL·E at Pixar Animation Studios and cash prizes up to $500. The contest winners will be announced on June 6, 2008.

"All through her life, my mother loved going to movies and seeing new worlds of possibilities open up on the screen," said Wong. "She would be thrilled to know that this fund might do the same for kids today, as well as getting them to think about and articulate what they're seeing and feeling."

"We are very excited about the possibilities that the wonderful Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Education Fund opens up for us," said Graham Leggat, executive director of the Film Society. "It's thanks to the vision and generosity of friends like Penelope and Tim that we are seeing our vibrant Education Program becoming ever more dynamic and far-reaching,"

Since 1991, the Film Society has presented successful Schools at the Festival arts-in-education programs that bring students ages 7-18 to special SFIFF screenings, and visiting filmmakers to Bay Area schools, with a particular focus on elementary, middle and high school-age students. In October 2005, SFFS expanded its Schools at the Festival program into a comprehensive year-round Education Program that dovetails with school curricula to present a coherent slate of interlocked programs. These include more than 40 annual screenings for youth in schools and at local theaters as well as filmmaker visits to classrooms; curriculum support, including lesson plans, study guides and online materials; and on-site school visits for educators in Bay Area elementary, middle and high schools. Since October 2005, SFFS's year-round Education Program has served 13,500 students and teachers from 200 educational institutions.