'Our Time': Colorado teen filmmakers confront serious issues in documentary series

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Teenagers from Colorado are using their gift of storytelling to confront serious subjects.

Teens at the Colorado Springs-based Youth Documentary Academy (YDA) are centering issues like domestic violence, immigration, and body image. And the young filmmakers have quite a platform: their documentaries, part of a series called Our Time, are airing on Rocky Mountain PBS.

On October 7, Rocky Mountain PBS aired documentaries from students Josh Sun and Yolande Morrison. Each story covers immigration from a unique perspective.

Sun’s documentary, called “Love Me” is about Sun’s life as the son of Chinese immigrants. "Finding Home" from Morrison is about the move from Jamaica to Colorado Springs she made with her mother. Both stories have a commonality: living up to parents’ expectations while also attempting to carve a voice of their own.

Full episodes of Our Time are available to stream here or in the video player below.

On October 14, the Our Time episode airing on Rocky Mountain PBS covers domestic violence. Rebecca St. John reveals the anatomy of a toxic relationship in high school while Dee Contreras details a life of homophobic bullying, even at the hands of a girlfriend. Both stories recount the degradation of self and the tough love from family and friends—along with therapy—that the subjects found necessary for healing and healthy relationships.

Finally, on October 21, Rocky Mountain PBS will air “Gorgeous” and “Out of the Box,” documentaries from Makayla de la Cruz and Casey Gurtler, respectively, that confront issues around self-image. In “Gorgeous,” De la Cruz tackles her own life-long battle with body image.

More information about Our Time is available on the Rocky Mountain PBS schedule page.

YDA, based out of Pikes Peak Community College, was founded in 2013 and provides mentorship to aspiring documentary filmmakers between the ages of 14 and 18. More information is available here.