This is the reel deal

There are several ways to find out what concerns young people today. Ask them, of course, but who's going to do that? Another way is to look at what they listen to, read or watch. A third way—and perhaps the best—is to watch the movies they make.

Through Tower of Youth and the Sacramento Sierra Digital Arts Studio Partnership, local student filmmakers have gained knowledge and experience in both the art and craft of digital communication. It's Super Reel, the 18th annual North American all-youth film festival and education day, will feature 30 student-made films and film-industry guest speaker Bill Holshevnikoff.

“Our youth face and speak to issues of the heart,” says Tower of Youth chairman William Bronston, in films that are “a tapestry of originality, self-revelation, integrity, lyricism and yearning for justice and beauty, uncorrupted by commercialism, cynicism and cliché.”

It's Super Reel, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, October 3; $10-$15. The Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street; www.towerofyouth.org.