Finding Kurt, Ryan Block

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Upon completion of my Honors Project, I will have filmed, edited, planned, and directed a documentary on poverty in Akron. Through film, I will show the community what it is like to be homeless, without anyone there to look out for you. I will journey across Akron alongside my friend Jordan, looking to find a specific homeless man we once met. Along the way, I hope to come across other people without homes who will share stories about their lives, either in passing or through interviews. If I do not end up finding the man I set out to find, …

(Re)Constructing National Memory In Neoliberal Chile Through Patricio Guzman's The Cordillera Of Dreams (2019), Mica Barrett

Scripps Senior Theses

One of the most renowned Chilean exile filmmakers is Patricio Guzmán. Best known for his documentary work regarding the Allende years, Guzmán has continued to make films regarding his homeland in the decades following his initial exile.

The Cordillera of Dreams is the concluding film in a trilogy exploring the natural lands of Chile and their relationship to physical remnants of the human past. The initial and most renowned film in the series, Nostalgia for the Light, centers the Atacama Desert and Chileans’ relationship to the geography as a gateway to revealing artifacts of Chile’s recent history of genocide …

It’S About Us: Extinction, Contradiction, And The Mourning Of Modernity In David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, Alex Ventimilla

Animal Studies Journal

Despite their worldwide viewership, popular eco-documentary treatments of biodiversity loss and the ecological grief they evoke have received scarce attention from critics. Addressing this gap in scholarship, this article posits that understanding the grief and mourning affected by these cultural texts requires attention to the numerous contradictions inherent to the form. More concretely, this paper argues that a thorough exploration of the contradictory nature of the eco-documentary, as a media genre that is imbricated in the modernity whose impact on the natural world it critiques, renders the genre into a critical junction at which to interrogate the cultural meanings of …

At Home Among Strangers, Aleksandra Gorbacheva

Theses and Dissertations

At Home Among Strangers is a character-driven documentary that explores the price of freedom for a gay person in a society that lacks freedom and civil rights. It follows an asylum seeker from Russia, Sasha Smirnov, during a crucial moment of his life: starting over in New York City at 40 as a journalist without English language skills. The film reflects on the choices one makes and the consequences of staying true to oneself.

Seeing And Interpreting Visions Of The Next Age In Interstellar, Nancy Wright

Journal of Religion & Film

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) uses multiple styles of cinematography – documentary, painterly and expressionistic – to guide interpretation of its apocalyptic review of history. Within the prologue and epilogue of the science fiction film, clips from interviews originally filmed for Ken Burns’s The Dust Bowl (2012) invite questions about how to interpret documentary, revisionist and eschatological reviews of history. Cinematography functions as a self-reflexive cue to spectators within and outside the mise-en-scène to engage in eschatological interpretation. The representation of spectatorship and vision reveals the challenge of interpreting prophetic visions of the last things and the next age, which are …

American Lotto, Kris Parker

Capstones

The Preka family won the diversity visa lottery and has immigrated to the seaside town of New London, Connecticut. They are a family of four that have dreamed of immigrating to the United States for much of their lives. Originally from Albania, a country with limited opportunities and riddled with corruption, the film will follow them in Connecticut as they adjust to life in the US and the challenges of learning a new language, finding decent work, and adjusting to a new culture. The film explores their emotional journey; their hopes, expectations, and disappointments, as they build a life without …

Dear Maliha,, Na-Eela Djemil

Capstones

Dear Maliha is a short documentary film exploring the complexities of spiritual abuse through Maliha Fairooz. Spiritual abuse is a form of abuse that uses spiritual or religious beliefs to control or manipulate others. In some cases, spiritual abuse can be used to describe a religious leader who abuses their platform. But in Maliha’s story, we explore the concept of parental spiritual abuse. However, we learn more about this through Maliha Fairooz and the creative use of her journal.

For Maliha journaling is a form of therapy she uses to process her feelings and days. She also uses it as …

Frederick Wiseman's Essene (1972): The Duality Of Mary And Martha, Nilita Vachani

Journal of Religion & Film

America’s legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman shot Essene 50 years ago at the height of the commune movement in the United States. Unlike his previous institutional films which showcase an insane asylum, a public high school, an inner city police force, a hospital, and a military training school, Essene's canvas is the far less turbulent terrain of a serene and austere Benedictine monastery devoted to the love and service of God and the divine spirit. This paper undertakes a close textual and hermeneutic analysis of Essene alongside an appraisal of Wiseman’s working methodology, his cinematic portrayals of character and dramaturgy, …

Beautiful People: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Fashion Industry's Thin Ideal, Shane White

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Negative body image among women has become an extremely relevant topic in the last decade. The “ideal” female body image and what a person should look like according to marketing and advertising has become a highly controversial issue. This project seeks to show how the fashion industry has, over centuries, shaped how people think they need to look and in today’s time and show how it has been a root cause of issues like body image complexes leading to negative self-perception, eating disorders, mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and addiction, and even suicide. Over the last three to four decades, …

What Moves You?: Georges Didi-Huberman’S Arts Of Passage And Pittsburgh Stories Of Migration, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

Contemporary art historian, critic, and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman thinks of images not as static objects, but as movements, passages, and gestures of memory and/or desire. For the French “historian of passing images,” as he has been called, “all images are migrants. Images are migrations. They are never simply local” (D2017). His book, Passer, quoi qu'il en coûte ("To Pass at Any Price"), co-written with the Greek poet and director Niki Giannari, takes on precisely the visual dynamics of passages, passengers, and passageways in the context of contemporary migration flows. In April 2018, only several months after the launching of the …

In/Visible, Raymond Thompson Jr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

My MFA thesis and supporting exhibition focus on challenging the United States’ photographic archive that often left out African-American people. The work, through the use of appropriation and alternative photographic processes, disrupts America’s historical visual archive and notions that surround the white gaze. Through the unsettling of this visual space, new speculative narratives can be created to help imagine new futures. This work is the beginning of a process of mourning histories I have never known and reclaiming a place for myself and my family in the American landscape that is free of racial trauma.

Apocalypse And Eschatology In John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), Nancy Wright

Journal of Religion & Film

John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) visualizes conventions of the apocalypse genre to represent not simply a particular historical setting, the Great Depression, but also a vision of history to be interpreted in terms of eschatology. Expressionistic photography transforms the characters’ experiences into enigmatic visions that invite and guide interpretation. A comparison of montage sequences in Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath and Pare Lorentz’s The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936), a Farm Security Administration documentary, clarifies how Ford’s narrative film aligns spectators within and outside the mise-en-scène.

Repairing A Nation: A Visual Exploration Into The American Debate On Reparations, Desi Jeseve Lapoole

Senior Independent Study Theses

The debate on reparations for slavery in the United States of America has persisted for generations, capturing the attention and imagination of America in waves before falling out of public consciousness over the decades. Throughout its longevity, the debate on reparations has had many arguments in support of and opposition towards the idea and has inspired many different proposals which seek to solve many different problems. Today, reparations have found new mainstream attention, thanks in part Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article, “The Case for Reparations,” published in The Atlantic, and to two new reparations bills in Congress. My research explores the …

Book Review: Death, Image, Memory: The Genocide In Rwanda And Its Aftermath In Photography And Documentary Film, Scott Ahearn

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

As Rwanda marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the genocide this spring, Piotr Cieplak’s book, Death, Image, Memory: The Genocide in Rwanda and its Aftermath in Photography and Documentation, is timely as an exploration of the documentary imagery developed since 1994 and its “uncomfortable coexistence with the genocide and its aftermath.” His book looks at still and video images from Westerners and Rwandans alike, and examines the ways in which these images succeed or fall short in bringing identity and remembrance to the victims of the genocide.

Homelessness In Akron: A Research Documentary, Tyler Gunter

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Research Project at The University of Akron is one that will serve as a learning experience relative to my Major and will also become a useful tool to show my expertise to potential employers. My project is a filmed and edited mini-documentary on homelessness in the city of Akron. The link to the project can be found on page 15.

Through this project, I am hoping to bring more awareness to the issues of homelessness in Akron, and some of the different services and programs that are assisting those who are in need. I will be doing this …

Rhetoric In Film: Three Explorations Of Influence In Documentaries And Digital Stories, Emily Knapp

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is made up of three distinct articles, two written with the intention of publication while the third consists of a digital story and subsequent reflection on the process of creation. The first article serves to answer the question “Do documentary films inspire activism?” by analyzing data gained after surveying 266 members of the James Madison University community. The results suggest that viewers are moved to emotion when witnessing struggle but that they are moved to action when said action directly impacts their own life. The second article is a rhetorical analysis of the 2013 documentary film Blackfish. …

Mdocs Poster-Fall 2018, Course Offerings, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Fall 2018 Course Offerings:

Documentary Fundamentals:

• Documentary Storytelling
• Intro to Audio Documentary
• Documentary and Narrative Screenwriting

• Storytelling: Video
• Storytelling: Game Development
• Storytelling: Mapping

• The Artist Interview
• Festival Curation

The Market, Claudia Zamora Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The Market is a short science fiction essay film that explores ideas and values attached to the “local food” movement, and how they manifest themselves in the act of consumption at a farmers’ market in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Study Abroad Blog: A Comprehensive Exploration Into Country And Culture, Kristin Zimney

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This writing serves as the reflective/contextual essay component of my creative thesis project. My creative project includes a detailed study abroad blog with photos, videos, and translated interviews I conducted with Salamanca locals regarding certain aspects of Spanish culture. This essay details the workings, text, and video content of my study abroad blog, and is intended to inform on a deeper basis with supporting research, the topics covered in the interviews.

Moulins: Down The Arctic Drain, Jonathon Nugent Carlson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This observation-style nonfiction documentary film follows a National Science Foundation expedition to the Greenland ice sheet. The bivouac lasted for 25 continuous days. University of Arkansas Professor of Geosciences Matt Covington, Ph.D. teamed up with University of South Florida Professor Jason Gulley, Ph.D. to plan, propose, and ultimately accomplish the research goals of the expedition with the assistance of Ph.D. student Celia Trunz, M.S., and experienced expeditionary team member Vickie Siegel. As an observational-style documentary film, all scientific background information imparted herein is taken directly from interviews conducted with Professor Covington, to minimize opining.

The film begins in mid-flight, as …

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-02, Palestinian Voices: Lyd In Exile, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 2, 6pm

Free and open to the public

Location: Somers Room

The Palestinian Voices series is organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a talk by Rami Younis and Sarah Friedland, and a screening of their work-in-progress documentary Lyd In Exile. Younis and Friedland have spent over three years researching and filming Lyd In Exile, and are in post-production. They will screen clips from their film and …

Mdocs Poster-Spring 2018, Course List, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

Spring 2018 Classes Documentary Studies

Production Fundamentals

• DS 116A - Storytelling: Map Design and Spatial Visualization (1 cr)
• DS 116B - 360 Degree Audio Video and Photogrammetry (2 cr) -- NEW!!

Documentary Studies

• DS 201 - Principles of Documentary (3 cr)
• DS 251D - Documentary Film Production: Form and Content (4 cr)
• DS 251C - Documenting Makers:Writing and Filming Artist Profiles (3 cr)
• DS 251C - Participatory Documentary, Socially Engaged Art and Community Media (3 cr) -- NEW!!
• DS 302D - From Story to Screen: Crew-Based Film Doc and Narrative Production (4 cr)
• DS 351B - Documentary Practice in Photography …

Mdocs Poster-2018-04-01, Zines Workshop, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

April 4, 12pm

Location:BerhardAtrium

Free and open to the public

On Wednesday, April 4, from 12:00 – 5:00 pm, join Evelyn Wang '19, Museum Store Associate, and Sean Fuller, Store and Publications Manager, for a zine making workshop focusing on the history of zines. Participants will learn two zine making methods: a simple one-page zine and a fold and staple pamphlet style. All materials will be provided.

This event is part of a series of drop-in zine making workshops occurring every Wednesday in April from 12:00 – 5:00 pm. The workshops will be held in the exhibition to be with …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-27, Jason Houston, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM (ET) Palamountain Hall Davis Auditorium

"Exploring how we live on the planet”

Photographer Jason Houston has spent over 20 years photographing community, culture, and how we live on the planet for editorial and NGO clients and personal projects. His engaged, long-term approach to complex issues captures informed, authentic narratives that help educate the public and guide social and environmental change. Recent projects include a global survey of conservation enterprises and a campaign for the protection of 10 million hectares in the Amazon for indigenous people in isolation and initial contact. He …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-22, No Mas Bebes, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

No Más Bebés tells the story of a little-known but landmark event in reproductive justice, when a small group of Mexican immigrant women sued county doctors, the state, and the U.S. government after they were sterilized while giving birth at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Marginalized and fearful, many of these mothers spoke no English, and charged that they had been coerced into tubal ligation — having their tubes tied — by doctors during the late stages of labor. Often the procedure was performed after asking the mothers under duress.

The mothers’ cause …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-21, Free To Rock, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Wednesday, March 21, 2018 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET) PALMTN Davis Auditorium

FREE TO ROCK is a documentary film directed by 4-time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Rock & Roll spread like an uncontrollable virus across Eastern Europe despite Communist attempts to outlaw it. Thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western freedoms and embraced this music as the Sound of Freedom, helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. Free to Rock features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West and the Soviet Union …

Mdocs Poster-2018-03-02, Oral History For Social Justice With Amy Starecheski, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

TALK: Curating Oral History for the 21st Century: Listening Out Loud, Listening with the Eyes and the Body
Thursday, March 1, 3:40 pm – 5:00 pm
Skidmore College, Filene Hall, Room 119

The talk will highlight the dilemmas and the potential of curating oral history for a broad contemporary audience, highlighting Columbia University’s Oral History Master’s Program as an example of an application that bridges archival and public use, media and the textual, audio walking tours as a means to return aural/oral history to place and the body, and a few recent short video and documentary projects by OHMA students, …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-06, Issam Nassar, Jesse Wakeman, Jordana Dym

MDOCS Publications

February 6, 6pm

Location: Payne Room

Free and open to the public.

In conjunction with the exhibition This Place

Part of the Palestinian Voices series, organized and co-sponsored by the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS), the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program, International Affairs, Media and Film Studies, Art History, History, Hayat, and the Skidmore College Dean’s Office

Join us for a lecture by Issam Nassar on the history of Palestinian photography. Nassar is a historian of the Modern Middle East and of Photography at Illinois State University. His work focuses on the modern Middle East and the history …

Mdocs Poster-2018-02-05, Voice As Documentary Audibility With Pooja Rangan, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Monday, February 5, 2018 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM (ET) PALMTN Emerson Auditorium In the field of documentary, voice, rather than point of view, is the prevailing metaphor for a filmmaker’s unique perspective, signaling the documentary genre’s textual emphasis on spoken words, as well as its social ethic of “giving voice.” Rangan’s talk will unpack the humanitarian resonances of this metaphor, as elaborated in her book Immediations: The Humanitarian Impulse in Documentary (Duke UP 2017), reframing voice as an audibility: a product of auditory forms and practices such as documentary that discipline unspoken norms of speaking and listening. Her talk …

Mdocs Poster-2018 Spring, Photography Workshop With Eric Jenks, Jesse Wakeman

MDOCS Publications

Friday, February 16th, 2018 @ 2-4pm:

Document your world: Learn how to compose a compelling photograph using your own camera

Friday, April 13th, 2018 @ 2-4:30pm:

Photo Editing: Bring 3-5 pictures for an introduction to editing with Photoshop

Join Skidmore alum and photographer Eric Jenks for a hands-on workshop on taking and editing compelling photos with any camera.

No experience required!

These workshops are for anyone planning to study abroad, travel over spring break, or explore or document closer to home, and those who have photos ready to share.