PARK CITY — Nicco Quinones upheld Park City's reputation for great films in a video contest that garnered national attention and landed him a few minutes of fame on C-SPAN last month.
Quinones, 13, heard about the student video documentary competition from a teacher at Colby School, a small private school in Park City. The national contest, titled Campaign Cam, was sponsored by C-SPAN and invited middle school and high school students to submit documentaries on campaign issues.
Quinones was not new to the idea of making films.
When he was 10 he got his first digital video camera for Christmas. Not long after that he purchased a $30 editing system, put it on his dad's laptop and taught himself to edit. He then started making small funny films and producing newscasts with his friends — the Nicco News, his mother, Nancy, recalls.
With that pre-teen filmmaking experience to draw on, he chose to look at controversial immigration policy issues by highlighting the lives of undocumented Mexican workers in Park City.
Quinones said he chose to focus on the issue because he has a Mexican American background himself.
"With just watching stuff around me and knowing that they deserve a lot more respect — I've hear people's comments and heard them (the workers) made fun of," said Quinones. "I just thought instead of getting back at those people let's try to just educate them."
So with his Panasonic DVX professional camera, Quinones, with his mom behind the wheel, cruised around Park City talking to migrant workers, Latino citizens and even the mayor.
"I was worried about him hanging out the window with a camera (for landscape shots)," Nancy said. "I had to think. 'OK, I'm the mom, my child is hanging out the window, but I think this will be OK.' "
He even visited the Sonora Desert near the Mexico-Arizona border, where many of the workers had to cross on foot to make it into the United States.
His documentary begins, "Behind all resort glamour there is another side to this city that tourists seldom see . . . the face of the people who make Park City work. The underground work force that numbers in the thousands — an invisible work force, because in the eyes of the law they are criminals … ."
Quinones spent more than three months on the documentary, "An American Dream." He knew it was a good film but said he never expected to beat out more than 700 other entries and hook the grand prize — especially since the competition was open to high school students as well.
"It's pretty crazy," Quinones said. Part of his documentary was broadcast on C-SPAN along with a brief phone interview.
He attributes some of his talent to years of watching his father, John Quinones, who is an ABC news correspondent.
"We have pictures of me as a little kid pulling cables for a camera crew and I was like 2," Quinones said. "I've just always been around it, I had fun watching it, and now I like doing it."
Though comfortable on either side of the camera, Nicco said he prefers to be behind the scenes — hoping some day to be a producer and filmmaker.
Currently he is an intern for Park City Television.
"I am into the newsmagazine/documentary kind of thing … it can make a change," Quinones said.
"Whether you agree with it or not, looking at 'Bowling for Columbine,' 'Fahrenheit 9/11' or 'Supersize Me' — all these different documentaries are really changing people or changing how people think and bringing certain issues to light. I think it's really cool how film can do that."
Aside from using and perfecting his production skills, he said he also came away looking at migrant workers differently.
"I knew they deserved much more respect but didn't realize what a contribution they made in Park City," Quinones said.
He plans to spend his $5,000 grand prize money on new video equipment for future projects — possibly a follow-up to "An American Dream."
Meg Steele, C-SPAN's education manager, said the contest was designed to engage students in expressing their opinions about campaign issues. Topics ranged from the war in Iraq, gay marriage, gas prices, No Child Left Behind and obesity.
The winning videos can be viewed at www.c-span.org/classroom.
E-mail: terickson@desnews.com