Hillsides Teens Starring in Film Festival Hosted by Ty Burrell of ABC’s Modern Family

Hillsides Teens Starring in Film Festival Hosted by Ty Burrell of ABC’s Modern Family

Fourteen youth from Hillsides will star in three films they wrote, cast, and starred in at the Kids in the Spotlight Movies by Kids, For Kids Film Awards held Saturday, November 7, 2015, from 2:00 – 5:00 pm at Fox Studios/Darryl F. Zanuck Theater. Emmy-award winner Ty Burrell from ABC’s Modern Family will return for a second year in a row to host the show.

Kids in the Spotlight is a nonprofit organization that provides an arts and healing program to foster care facilities and schools throughout the city of Los Angeles and surrounding areas. The awards show is the sixth annual red carpet event that showcases and awards ten 10-minute films written by, casted by and starring underserved youth.

The short films the Hillsides youth wrote are Perfect Chemistry, Different Position, and The New Comers. The teens were trained for 10 weeks in the essentials of screenwriting and filmmaking using the Final Draft software and equipment used by professionals in the industry. During one acting lesson, the children were personally trained by Burrell himself, and Kids in the Spotlight brought in professional directors for the filming of the films.

Similar to Hollywood industry award shows, the film festival will announce awards for best film, best actor, best supporting actor, best ensemble, and best screenplay/story. Last year Hillsides youth captured the best supporting actor and best ensemble award.

Besides Burrell, many other celebrities will be presenting during the awards show, including Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Miles Brown (Blackish), Wendy Raquel Robinson (The Game, Disney’s Descendants), Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (Creator, Phineas & Ferb), Mo McRae (Empire), Kendrick Sampson (Gracepoint, How to Get Away with Murder), Alyssa Diaz (Ray Donovan), Mateus Ward (Murder in the First), Skai Jackson (Jessie), Emma Kenney (Shameless), Salli Richardson Whitfield (Being Mary Jane), and Robert Munic (Fighting). Media partners and sponsors include 20th Century Fox; Music is Unity, founded by Earth, Wind and Fire front man, Philip Bailey; and CBS Studios, whose seminal magazine program, Entertainment Tonight, will be on hand to cover the event.

For the film festival, the teens are given the red-carpet treatment. They are fitted with donated gowns and suits, have their hair and make-up done professionally, and are whisked to the festival in limousines.

The red carpet arrivals begin at 2:00 p.m., the screening and awards ceremony at 3:00 p.m., followed by a reception from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for children 10 and under and $35 for adults. Tickets can be purchased online. Fox Studios/Darryl F. Zanuck Theater is located at 10201 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.

Hillsides, headquartered in Pasadena, is a child welfare nonprofit serving children in the foster care system and families in crisis. For more information, please visit www.hillsides.org.