I interviewed Lyle Kane, the founder and executive director of Reel Lives. “Reel Lives is a 501(c)3 non-profit filmmaking program teaching marginalized, refugee and war-affected youth to find an authentic voice through the medium of film”(reel-lives.org). Lyle primarily works with 15-20 year olds, helping them to create their own documentary films about issues that are important to them. The films usually run about 10-13 minutes and are shot, directed, and edited by the students. The 24-week program involves a lot of hard work and dedication from the students as well as the staff.
Almost all of the students have absolutely no film or media experience whatsoever, so Reel Lives starts from the beginning to teach these kids how to make a documentary. When asked about the editing process, Lyle said, “That's the magic moment with these kids. When they're shooting, they're really distracted with the whole technical end of it. But when they're sitting down and looking at the footage, they start to find the bits that are important and put it together to form the narrative. That is where the catharsis happens of these people grappling with their own stories.”
I asked Lyle about his childhood. I found out that he dropped out of school when he was 11. Eventually, the state found him and put him in a reform school where he very nearly failed to graduate. As a child, he found it difficult to be engaged with his education. After high school, he took two years off to travel the world and figure out what he wanted to do with it. During that time, he decided he wanted to go into education. He received his undergrad at City College, his masters at Columbia, and is currently finishing his doctorate at the University of Oxford.
I asked Lyle what he envisioned for the future of Reel Lives, and he spoke predominantly of using different programs such as Avid and getting more computers and camera equipment. He said, “I don’t think we’re ever going to be a program that services and trains 100 filmmakers a year. I am a strong believer in depth over breadth”(Personal Communication, Oct. 19th, 2011). Ultimately, he imagines master classes for graduate students, college credit for students who complete the program, film festivals, and eventually taking the program international.
Lyle told me about his exceptionally difficult childhood, but immediately brushed it off, calling it, “mundane compared to some of the things, some of the problems that the kids I work with have faced”(Personal Communication, Oct. 19th, 2011). I asked him what the greatest challenge in his life has been, and he responded, “I think it was hard, and I don’t know if I’ve done it yet, to learn how to be a man and an adult without any real guidance. I’ve been pretty much on my own since I was 12, more or less (Personal Communication, Oct. 19th, 2011). “
I think that Lyle hopes to help these kids in any way he can, whether it is being the male figure that they don’t have at home, the counselor who will actually listen to them, the friend they can hang out with, or just a role model that they can look up to. And I think he has succeeded.
Work Cited
· Kane, Lyle. Reel Lives. Web. <http://www.reel-lives.org>.
· Kane, Lyle. "Enviornmental Portrait Interview." Personal interview. 19. Oct. 2011
· Sharpe, Bruce. "Lyle Kane of Reel Lives: Filmmaking Education for Marginalized Youth." 25-Hour Day. 6 July 2011. Web. <http://brucesharpe.blogspot.com/2011/07/lyle-kane-of-reel-lives-filmmaking_06.html>.
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