“The films are meant to be shown on the bus,” explains Heidi Zeller with Freewaves.   “People who may live in the Valley and commute to South L.A.  might pass through 20 different neighborhoods but they never get off the bus to experience them.  Out the Window’s goal is to encourage them to get off the bus and into these neighborhoods.”

When Out the Window was running on Transit TV  this Spring, the series focused on student films about their unique communities.  Often times these films focused on how to make the communities safer and healthier.  This time, the focus is a little different. Each day, a new video will be featured highlighting a different place, event or community in Los Angeles.  The series runs from the start of October until the end of November.  When Out the Window.

If you don’t ride the bus, but want to see today’s film, and all the ones that have come before it, visit the Out the Window website.

Freewaves started with a loose idea of collecting films “about, by and in Los Angeles” and ended up with a pretty diverse group of films.  Some artists focused on neighborhoods or meaningful spots in the community.  Others looked at the history and background of city sites and what’s being done to preserve it.  Still other videos show public performances and how art, artists and the public interact in an open space.   To show the diversity of the films, and to show where they need to recruit film makers in the future, freewaves has mapped what communities are featured.

Interactivity is important to the Freewaves team, so each film asks viewers a question at the end of the presentation.  Riders can text an answer to the team.  Every text gets entered into a raffle drawing where the winners receive a DVD showcasing 20 years of art and films curated by Freewaves.