The Multicultural Youth Film Storytelling Film Institute, more commonly referred to as MYSFI, is a storytelling program aimed at multicultural youth in Howard County, Maryland. Our mission is to tell stories, build bridges and make changes. Through a multi-month course, the MYSFI instruction team–led by accomplished director Changfu Chang–guides students through the pre-production, production and post-production phases of filmmaking and provides them with the equipment to make their visions a reality. Our goal is to give participants both an outlet and platform to share not only their experiences, but the experiences of their surrounding communities in the hopes of creating positive change.

MYSFI is made possible by the Transform Howard grant and the Howard County Chinese School (HCCS).

My Role: Assistant Course Director

I was first introduced onto the MYSFI team back in January of 2022 when we were still anxiously waiting to hear if we’d secured the grant funding needed to make the program possible.

With my background in design and communications, I was tasked with branding our program, creating a website and establishing a social media presence. I designed the logo from scratch in Adobe InDesign, as well as handpicked the color scheme. From there, I went onto create a website that reflected who we are, as well as serve as a space for course updates, documents and other important information. Lastly, I set up a Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube account, all of which are used to share course materials, updates and excerpts.

More recently now that we’ve polished and refined our outward image, I serve on the instructional team. Each week, I formulate that particular class’s plans into a neatly, individualized presentation, as well as create digital handouts to accompany the lecture. In conjunction with that, I often give focused mini lessons on specific facets of filmmaking I have experience in.

Below, you can find some examples of the kind of work I do for MYSFI: