In the past, graduate students in News and Documentary have traveled to Bosnia, Sweden, India, France, England, Argentina, Pakistan, China, Japan, Russia, Israel, Palestine, Brazil, Thailand, Cambodia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bali, and throughout the U.S.A to produce dynamic and thought-provoking documentaries.

Story topics have ranged from the immigration of Muslims to Sweden, Cambodians to the Bronx, Chechnyans to Russia, Muslims back to Srebrenica, AIDS in Africa, Palestinians in Israel, political oppression in Zimbabwe, madrassas in Bali, and hip hop in Japan.

Here are just a few of the awards that our graduate students have received in the past:

  • American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award
  • Student Academy Award
  • Sid Gross Award for Enterprise Reporting
  • Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)
  • The Deadline Club award
  • National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation Lee and Rosalind Begman Awards
  • Luce fellowship

Student documentaries that have screened at film festivals, and won awards:

Sea Women

Elly Park, 2009

Elly Park received a Gracie Award for her documentary Sea Women from the American Women in Radio and Television. She also received the first AWRT and Dove Scholarship for $3500.

Under the River

Jesse Lanier, Producer

In Ghana, children as young as three are sent away from home to work for money needed desperately by impoverished families. Child trafficking leaves a wake of fractured families, exposes the difficulties of certain cultural values and gender roles, and illustrates the desperation poverty causes. This documentary follows one non-governmental organizationÕs efforts to rescue children from bonded labor and return them to their parents, many of whom who were trafficked out because their parents could not afford to take care of them.

The International Black Docufest, Atlanta, GA, 2008


Life Sentence

Lisa Gray, Producer

A personal look at the impact of long-term imprisonment and the adjustment back into society. While providing positive opportunities for other formerly incarcerated people, these six successful men and women must deal with the hindrances of lifetime parole. The film explores the criminal justice system, as well as the hope, ambition, and obstacles they've overcome to prove change is possible.

NEWFILMMAKERS SHORT FILM PROGRAM, ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES 2008


I am WoMAN

Sheherzad Kaleem 2008

A Karachi based theater group is storming the streets with its plays on education, forced marriage and honor killings.

AWRT Gracie Award


MD-RN

Barnaby Lo, Producer

With 50,000 U.S. immigrant visas guaranteed for foreign nurses, nursing has become the profession of choice for Filipinos in the past six years. This includes doctors-5000 of whom have left the country. The exodus has caused more than 100 hospitals to close, and many to operate without a doctor.

FRONTLINE WORLD 2007


Ladies of the Land

Megan Thompson, Producer

As small family farms continue to disappear from the American landscape, a new group of farmers grows dramatically: women.

STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD 2007
AWRT Gracie Allen Award


Good Morning, Dangme

Takaya Kawasaki, Producer

Radio Ada, the first community radio station in Ghana, is a powerful engine of social change in this poor rural area. By broadcasting in the local language, Dangme, this radio station has helped a predominantly illiterate and patriarchal society cope with its education and gender problems.

UN Documentary Film Festival, 2007
George Stickel Festival of Moving Images


A Global Price

Jacqueline Reeves, Producer

This film explores the ripple effect of globalization on Ghanaian poultry farmers, highlighting their day-to-day struggle to compete with the rest of the world.

FilmGate International Student Film Festival, St. Louis, MO
HardAcre Film Festival, IO
International Student Film Festival, CA


Queer Spawn

Anna Boluda, Producer

Does having gay parents affect children's lives? From New York to Texas, teenagers and their parents candidly share their experiences and insights.

Aired on WNET Channel 13 in 2006, Barcelona TV in 2007.

Film Festival Information:
30 Festivals worldwide (Australia, US, Canada, Brazil, Spain, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Portugal, Paraguay and Poland).

  • Brisbane Queer Film Festival (Australia). April 9th, 2006.
  • George Stickel Festival of Moving Images (New Jersey, US). April 13th, 2006.
  • Q Cinema (Fort Worth, TX, US). May 20th, 2006.
  • Fairy Tales (Calgary, Canada). May 2006.
  • Provincetown International Film Festival (MA, US). June 16th, in the Student Film Showcase.
  • Frameline (San Francisco, CA, US). June 18th and June 21st, 2006.
  • Asociación NOS (Granada, Spain). June 22nd.
  • Jo no t’espere (Valencia, Spain). June 29th.
  • Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (US). July 15th 2006.
  • Family Week (Provincetown, MA, US). July 30th 2006.
  • North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Durham, NC, US). August 13th 2006.
  • Lisbon Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Portugal). 15-24 September 2006.
  • Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Texas, US). September 2006.
  • Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Spain). 5-15 October 2006.
  • Cork Film Festival (Ireland). 8-15 October 2006.
  • Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (WA, US). 13-22 October 2006.
  • Cineffable (Paris, France). 27-30 October 2006.
  • Out OK (Oklahoma, US). October 2006.
  • Spokane’s GLBT Film Festival (WA, USA). November 3rd 2006.
  • Out Takes Dallas (Texas, US). November 5th 2006. Website
  • Lesgaicinemad (Madrid, Spain). November 2006.
  • Mezipatra (Brno and Prague, Checz Republic). November 2006.
  • Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (New York, US). November 2006.
  • Image+Nation (Montreal, Canada). November 2006.
  • 22. festival lezbicnega in gejevskega filma (Ljubljana, Slovenia). December 12th 2006. Opening night.
  • Gay and Lesbian Film Festival of Brussels (Belgium). January 18th-27th.
  • Bloomington Pride Film Festival (Indiana, US). January 25th-27th.
  • Melbourne Queer Film Festival (Australia). March 15th-25th.

Award Information:

  • Out Takes Dallas (Texas, US): Best Documentary
  • Lesgaicinemad (Madrid): Best Short Documentary, Best Spanish Documentary and Best Spanish Film.
  • Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival: Audience Award.
  • Spokane’s LGBT Film Festival (Washington, USA): Audience Award.
  • George Stickel Festival of Moving Images (NJ, US): Judge’s Choice.

Laura Beatty 2006

Global Peace Film Festival


Selena Hsu

Luce Fellowship 2006


Srebrenica Remains

Ten years after the massacre in Srebrenica, Bosnia, displaced Muslims are returning to the homes expelled from during the war. This piece explores pain and difficulties that arise from returning with a dark past and an uncertain future (Producer: Brian Epstein).

Film Festival Information:

  • Globians Documentary Film Festival in Germany
  • The River’s Edge Film Festival in Paduch, Kentucky

Breaking the Chains

A group of bikers use the tough-guy image of motorcycle clubs to empower and support children who have been abused (Producer: Katrina Markel).

Film Festival Information:

  • Big Bear Lake Festival, Bethlehem, PA

I Am Bombay

Jam-packed in the metropolis of Mumbai, the lives of the diverse inhabitants are intricately woven together. Through a string of connectivity, this film follows six characters capturing the spirit that is Mumbai (Producer: Preeti Mankar).

Film Festival Information:

  • Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival
  • South Side Film Festival

Road to Sulha

Where the political dialog between Israelis and Palestinians has failed, a small tribe of passionate and religious visionaries hopes to succeed, not on space at the negotiating table, but by bringing together ordinary people from both sides of the border. This is the story of their journey on the long road to peace (Producer: Laura Beatty).

Film Festival Information:

  • Global Peace Film Festival (Orlando, FL). December 2005.
  • Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, IL). February 2006.
  • Hearts & Minds Film Festival (Dover, DE). April 2006.
  • Nazareth International Film Festival. December 2006.

Our Cause: Burmese Freedom Fighters

Many have fled the brutality of Burma’s military regime and sought asylum in the U.S. Through two activists in New York, we enter the world of the Burmese pro-democracy movement in America and witness their dedication to restoring democracy in Burma (Producer: Frederic Vernet).

Film Festival Information:

  • Asian Film Festival of Dallas
  • Asian Pacific American Film Festival (Washington, DC)
  • Amnesty International Film Festival
  • Chicago Asian American Film Festival

Leung’s Journey

Leang, a Cambodian-American immigrant is a leader in the Cambodian community in the Bronx and tries to keep his culture. Though his daughter Moni is a high school drop-out, Leang tries to support her and struggles between his two loves: Cambodia and his troubled daughter who hates the narrowness of Cambodians. Koji traveled to Cambodia to visit Leang’s family. The tension between Leang’s two loves as they come crashing together is captured in Koji’s cinema verite film (Producer: Koji Hayasaki).

Film Festival Information:

  • Discovery Channel/American Film Institute – Silverdocs. June 2004.
  • VC Asian Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA). April 2004.
  • Chicago Asian Film Showcase. April 2004.
  • San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival. March 2004.
  • Asian American Film Festival at Yale University. January 2004.
  • Cinema Cambodia in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. January 2004
  • Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival. November 2003
  • APA Film Festival at Smithsonian Institution. October 2003
  • San Diego Asian Film Festival. Oct, 2003.
  • New York Asian American International Film Festival. June, 2003.
  • Asian Film Festival of Dallas. May 2003.
  • Arizona International Film Festival. April 2003.

Leung’s Journey aired on Link TV, the national television network, 2004 to 2006

Nominations:

  • Golden Award at VC Asian Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Frontier Award at Arizona International Film Festival