Rocking the vote Rocking the vote (March 19, 2004)

Local filmmakers shoot documentary for teens

By Grace Rauh

On a warm afternoon amid cafe patrons basking in the sun outside the Dana Street Roasting Company, Deepthi Welaratna sat down with former gubernatorial candidate Georgy Russell to rap about politics.

But this wasn't simply two friends getting together for some coffee talk. Instead, Welaratna, who graduated from Los Altos High School in 1996, was interviewing Russell for a documentary film that is expected to appear in high school classrooms across California as early as April.

"The point is to motivate high school students to vote," Welaratna said.

The California Secretary of State's office hired i.e. communications, a policy advocacy and media consulting firm in San Francisco, where Welaratna works as a research assistant, to create a film for a 50-minute assembly program they plan to launch before the school year ends. Although the project has not yet received an official green light from the Secretary of State's office, Welaratna has received positive feedback from department officials, she said.

Welaratna produced, directed and edited the 15-minute documentary called "Voting." The film chronicles the history of voting rights in America and includes interviews with young people involved in California politics today. But before she jumped in too deep, Welaratna tapped two locals for help on the project.

The director's boyfriend, Jon Bernstein, a former Los Altos and Mountain View resident and a Menlo School graduate, composed music and edited sound for the movie. Mountain View resident Andy Flautt, who graduated from Los Altos High School in 1997, shot the film.

"It's cool that this is being used as an outreach device to get kids interested in politics on the ground," Flautt said.

"Voting" is slated to appear in school assemblies along with a film in which high school and college students talk about the importance of voting and how politics have affected their lives.

Now a "highly political" person, Flautt remembered feeling patronized by adults in political discussions in high school. He said the only way to engage young people in political discourse is to educate them about how state and federal government affects their lives.

Outside Dana Street, where Welaratna hung out in high school, the filmmaker asked 26-year-old Russell, a Mountain View resident, about her experience in politics and in the governor's race. Russell reflected on the political process and bemoaned the lack of good media coverage for young people.

"I think we've all felt that sting -- this thing of not being taken seriously," Welaratna said.

But Welaratna was no political wallflower. At 18, she filled out a voter registration card, cast a ballot in her first election and was "really happy about it."

Throughout the creation of a film, she said she wrestled to understand her own political drive and finally attributed it to her family. Welaratna moved to the U.S. from England when she was a baby and became a naturalized citizen at age 12. The experience made her think more about her rights as an American.

"If you're not a citizen, you can't vote," she said.

The video may be compelling, but the filmmakers are up against a tough audience. As Bernstein knows from personal experience, it can be tough to break through to an unwilling high school student. The film's composer says that although he was politically aware in high school, he would most likely have zoned out during a film like the one he just made.

"It has nothing to do with what is in the video. It just has to do with the fact that it is being shown by the authorities."

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

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