Ghetto Film School + Huntington Partnership

Ghetto Film School (GFS) is an award-winning nonprofit founded in 2000 to educate, develop, and celebrate the next generation of great American storytellers. Through a partnership between GFS and The Huntington (three years running), high school and early college-aged GFS students spend ten weeks immersed in a study of the Art Museum’s collections to create short films drawn from their own perspectives. Inspired by The Huntington’s collections, these films reveal the continuing relevance of historical art to contemporary creativity.

Ghetto Film School


Nuestro Pueblo (2022)

The most recent in the three-year series, Nuestro Pueblo was inspired by the “Borderlands” exhibition in The Huntington's Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art. “Nuestro Pueblo” references the foundational Indigenous, Californio and Spanish settlements from which Los Angeles got its name: “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles” or “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels.” The 2022 series focuses on the importance of preserving and documenting our city through a lens in order to understand the rich, diverse, and complex cultural fabric of Los Angeles.

Nuestro Pueblo (2022)

Melanie Cho, “American Dream”

Artists/Films
Karen Hernandez, “Oaxacali”
Yolihuani Tekolokuautli, "InLak'ech"
Brian A Arrieta, "Dubon"
Sophia LaFaurie, "There Was You"
Estevan Fonseca, "Take A Ride With Me"

View all 28 videos

Reimagining Portraiture (2021)

In 2021, "Reimagining Portraiture" inspired students to immerse themselves in an in-depth study of portraiture via the work of artist Kehinde Wiley and the Grand Manner Portraiture in the Huntington’s European Art Collections.

2021: Reimagining Portraiture

Ciara Zoe, "Portrait of a Caged Bird"

Artists/Films
Julia Song, "9:31"
Jessica Munoz, "Las Seimple Cosas"
Jack Blum, "A Portrait of the Artist"
Alyse Arteaga, "Identidad"
Mya Dodson, "Fundamentals"

View all 15 videos

Portraits in Light (2021)

The 2020 inaugural project in the series, "Portraits in Light" focused on The Huntington's Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection of Early American Art. Students conceptualized, planned, and shot 17 moving image self-portraits inspired by the collection.

2020: Portraits in Light

Guinevere Alcaraz, "Eat Life!"

Artists/Films
Giancarlo Almanzan, "Nostalgia"
Analei Song, "En!gma"
Leilani Rodriquez, "The Drip Finally Stops"
ErickGrajeda, "We Are Not Dirty Mexicans"
Genie Vaudry, "Good Morning"

View all 17 videos