Ryan Levine was voted as the November Person of the Month for raising $32,000 for Parkinson's Disease research. Pictured above is Levine with his grandmother, Jackie Bercu, who was his inspiration; Levine is a Delorian, the car Michael J. Fox drove in the "Back to the Future" movies, and with Liz Deimer, of the Michael J. Fox Foundation on the red carpet at the at the Kids Film It festival. (Special to cleveland.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ryan Levine was a small child when his grandmother, Jackie Bercu, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. A close family, the now 13-year-old Levine has watched her struggle with the symptoms for nearly as long as he can remember.
Levine was chosen by cleveland.com readers as the November Person of the Month winner -- from a field of eight candidates -- for conceiving and hosting a kids-only film festival at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last month. The event raised $32,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help fund research for a Parkinson's cure.
Levine, a seventh grader at Hawken, will now join the field of monthly winners who will vie for Northeast Ohio's 2016 Person of the Year award in January.
Parkinson's disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, which mainly affects an individual's ability to move. Symptoms generally come on slowly, with the most obvious symptoms being shaking, and difficulty walking. TV star Fox was diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 1991.
Levine decided to help raise money for Parkinson's disease research, but was unsure how to begin.
Levine talks about what it means to work for a cure
Levine took a film making class and dreamed of being a
filmmaker, though "I'm not the best story-teller so I have a hard time
coming up with ideas." Instead, he took his passion for film in another
direction.
"I thought it would be cool to have some kind of
film festival, but one just for kids since there aren't many options for young
filmmakers," he said. "Kids needed a place to share their creativity
and talents in film with an audience so I decided holding a festival could
accomplish both goals."
The result was the Kids Film It Festival.
Levine didn't have far to look for help. Ivan
Schwartz, president of the Greater
Cleveland Film Commission, offered advice, as did Mary Ann
Ponce, founder of the Chagrin
Documentary Film Festival.
When Rock Hall officials heard of the project, they
offered the space needed to screen submissions - complete with a red
carpet. Orville
Redenbacher's donated the popcorn and a local Best Buy offered
$500 gift cards for the winning filmmakers.
Cleveland natives George Cheeks-President of NBC Late
Nate Programming and Business ops and Marc Buckland, an Emmy award winning
director and producer, judged the films
Levine hoped for "about 20 submissions" when
he launched his website. The parameters were the filmmaker must be between the
ages of 8 and 18 and the film could be no longer than six minutes.
Sixty submissions came in and Levine screened all of
them. In lieu of an entry fee or admission to the festival, filmmakers and
moviegoers were asked for donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, who sent
a representative to the event.
"Working to support the Kids Film it Festival has
been a true highlight of my year," said Liz Diemer, senior associate
director of Team Fox. "To see Ryan's passion for film so perfectly paired
with the creative engagement of a younger generation in helping to raise funds
and awareness for Parkinson's research was both impressive and inspiring."
Celebrity support came from TV actress Holly Robinson Peete,
whose father suffers from Parkinson's, basketball great Shaquille O'Neal,
and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, all of
whom tweeted about the event.
Levine hopes to make the festival an annual event,
benefiting The Fox Foundation, until a cure can be found. Although he is quick
to say his "grades have to come first and putting on the festival is a lot
of work."
Still, the youngster won't rule out a future as a film
director.
http://www.cleveland.com/best/2016/12/young_filmmaker_makes_a_mark_b.html
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