Purpose
FIND A VOICE.
Filmmaking gives young people a constructive way to express themselves, build confidence, develop practical skills, and create opportunity, supported by mentorship and positive alternatives to violence.
About the initiative
FILMMAKING
WITH
PURPOSE.
ICFC is a Boston youth filmmaking and mentorship initiative where young people make real films, together.
From the first idea to the final screening, students learn the complete craft by joining a crew and doing the work.
Process
MAKE THE FILM.
Students develop ideas, write scripts, direct, operate cameras, act, record sound, edit, and present finished work. Every stage becomes part of one connected production experience.
Difference
WORK AS A CREW.
Young people do more than learn about film. They make films together, take responsibility for real production roles, and connect the craft to stories rooted in their own communities.
In his own words
THE TWO PART
INTERVIEW.
Bill Willis on filmmaking, mentorship, and the Boston stories behind the work. Part one rolls straight into part two; swipe or use the arrows to move between them.
PART 1
Founder / filmmaker / mentor
ABOUT
BILL
WILLIS.
Bill Willis is a Boston filmmaker, mentor, and longtime community advocate whose work has grown out of a career spent close to the realities facing young people in the city. During more than three decades with the Boston Police Department, including work connected to Boston’s school community, Willis developed a perspective that went beyond enforcement.
In 2007, after 21 years patrolling Boston’s streets, he turned his attention to filmmaking with Shot in the Hood, a documentary examining youth violence and asking a deeper question: why do young people become caught in cycles of violence in the first place? The film was screened at the Roxbury Film Festival, where Willis appeared as its producer and director.
That commitment continued with The Last Shot, a 2011 feature centered on a family navigating talent, opportunity, violence, drugs, and neighborhood pressure. Willis served as writer and producer, working alongside director Noah Christofer and the production team. Rooted in the life of Steven Odom, a young Dorchester resident killed in 2007, the film featured Boston community members including Kendric Price.
The Last Shot received the Indie Spirit Special Recognition Award for Willis at the 2011 Boston International Film Festival. Contemporary coverage from the Bay State Banner also identified Willis as the film’s producer and writer.
For Willis, filmmaking and mentorship have increasingly become part of the same mission. His relationship with Kendric Price, whom he mentored while Price was in high school, reflected a belief in helping young people recognize their potential and return that investment to their communities. When Price was killed in 2019, Willis spoke publicly about his legacy and the importance of the opportunities he had created.
That same philosophy now informs ICFC: a place where young people can learn the craft, develop their voices, work together, and turn their experiences into stories worth sharing.
A continuing timeline
SHOT IN THE HOOD
Willis moves into documentary filmmaking after 21 years patrolling Boston and screens the film at the Roxbury Film Festival.
THE LAST SHOT
Writer and producer on the feature; receives Indie Spirit Special Recognition at the Boston International Film Festival.
MENTORSHIP REMEMBERED
Willis speaks publicly about Kendric Price, the young man he mentored, and the opportunities Price created for others.
ICFC
Community experience, filmmaking, and mentorship become a pathway for the next generation of Boston storytellers.