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Salesforce.com/Foundation Hosts First Annual Community Youth Film Festival

Youth-made films and photography exhibits will showcase the creativity and unique voice of underserved youth from around the San Francisco Bay Area

June 23, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – June 20, 2003 – Salesforce.com/foundation, a nonprofit organization that harnesses the energy of the salesforce.com community to make a positive difference in people's lives through service and technology-related projects for youth, will host its first annual Community Youth Film Festival this Monday, June 23, 2003. The Festival will showcase youth-made films from the San Francisco Bay Area on a variety of topics. It will be held from 6:00 – 9:00 pm PDT inside Action Theatre at Sony Metreon, in partnership with SF Design Museum. There will be a sneak preview of the Design Museum from 5:00 – 6:00 pm PDT. Over 300 youth and adults are expected to attend this free event and celebration of the film and photography works of local young artists.

At the Festival, the Foundation will premiere its first ever youth-produced documentary, Bus 24: The Diversity Bus. Supported by salesforce.com, the world leader in delivering software-as-service, the Foundation brought youth from several Foundation-supported technology centers together to collaborate on this special film. The film shares the experiences of young filmmakers ages 10-16 as they journey on the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) bus 24 across diverse neighborhoods, from the rougher edges of Bayview Hunters Point to the more prominent corners of Pacific Heights. They encounter wonderful personalities, learn about their surroundings and capture their interactions with fellow riders in this 30-minute documentary. Under the direction of producers Aaron Ranen of Third Wave Media and Julie Trell of the Foundation, these students gained valuable editing, filming, interviewing, and cooperative skills that they will be able to carry through down new paths in their lives.

"We believe that youth have a lot of important messages to share with the rest of the community," said Marc Benioff, chairman and founder of salesforce.com and salesforce.com/foundation. "The salesforce.com/foundation believes the key vehicle for their expression is through today’s multi-media channels – it is important that we give them this opportunity to share their voice and creativity and encourage them to think outside of their immediate surroundings. They gained important technology and interpersonal skills through this experience as well."

In addition to Bus 24: The Diversity Bus, a variety of films ranging from short clips to documentaries will debut at the Festival. Awards and honorable mentions will be given to winning submissions which encompass a full range of messages including public service announcements on drunk driving and juvenile justice as well as a hip hop documentary, horror movie shorts, and personal stories reflecting youth self discovery. These films can be previewed at the Foundation-developed and sponsored www.youthspace.net. If interested in attending this event, please contact foundation@salesforce.com.

The Foundation partnered with Sony Metreon and SF Design Museum to bring this event to San Francisco. Sony Metreon’s partnerships work to enhance learning through expansion of awareness across education, technology and art. SF Design Museum’s vision - to embody the concept of design across various disciplines including architecture, advertising, motion and graphic - wraps these various disciplines around a common theme. By collaborating with key organizations such as the Foundation, Metreon and SF Design Museum reach community youth to develop an exchange of education and awareness.

Action Theatre at Metreon is located on the second floor of the facility. Metreon is located at the corner of Fourth and Mission streets in the South of Market area of San Francisco and is easily accessible by public transportation including the Powell Street and Montgomery Street BART and Muni Metro stations, the Transbay Terminal and the Ferry Building. Public parking is available at the Fifth and Mission Garage, at the corner of Fourth and Mission streets, and in nearby lots including the Moscone Center Garage at Third and Howard streets.

About salesforce.com/foundation

Salesforce.com/foundation is the leader in integrating philanthropy and business. Through its model of donating 1% of profits to the community annually, 1% of salesforce.com equity to its programs and 1% of employee working hours to community service, the Foundation is building a new model for corporations to better serve the communities in which they operate. The Foundation also strives to better the lives of youth by providing relevant access to technology for youth in underserved communities both domestically and abroad. The Foundation works with other corporations, youth development agencies, and NGOs to create a society in which children, regardless of socio-economic background, ethnicity or learning level, have access to technology and understand how to use it to enhance their lives. Since July 2000, the Foundation has opened over 40 Community Technology Centers across the globe serving nearly 30,000 youth and other community members; has provided close to 5,000 hours of service to the community through salesforce.com's 300 employee volunteers; and offers the salesforce.com award winning online customer relationship management application to more than 100 qualified nonprofits globally saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. More information is available at http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/.

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