Students film close-up portraits of Latinos
January 8, 2009
By Leah Rae
With the premiere of three short films tonight, a group of college students will present close-up portraits of Latino immigrants in Westchester.
The minidocumentaries "Ana," "Marco" and "Martha" will debut in a free screening at the Jacob Burns Film Center. They are the work of nine students from World Crew '08, a summer program that is part of the center's growing educational component.
The character Ana is a Chilean-born social worker who tries to organize housekeepers in Sleepy Hollow. Marco is an Ecuadorean landscape contractor in Ossining and Martha is a senior at Fox Lane High School whose family came from Mexico.
"We try to explore what's behind the stereotypes of Latinos in our community," said Susan Todd, a documentary filmmaker and World Crew's director. The first round of World Crew students went to Uganda in 2007 and produced the film "Shooting for Peace," documenting the struggles of daily life there. Last year's group turned an eye on something closer to home, though international in scope. The stories reflect the modern realities of immigration.
"Here the struggle for citizenship is just so extreme and ongoing. It think it gives rise to a different perspective on what an immigrant is," Todd said. "I think the films show real human struggle and emotion and commitment to trying to make a better life. And I think that's what, in essence, being an immigrant in the United States is all about. But it's changing."
One theme is the "transnational" existence of immigrants who live in two cultures at once. Another is the changing economic climate in the United States.
Tania Zapata, a 30-year-old a film major at City College of New York, said her interviews with Marco served to break through her own prejudice against immigrant laborers. She said that unlike Marco, she immigrated to the United States with a resident's visa. A native of Colombia, she gained an understanding of her subject's motivation as his family's main provider. He works at building a life in the United States, knowing that it might not last.
She found it painful to pare down eight or 10 hours of footage into a short segment, but she is excited to see her work being shown outside of school.
Most students in World Crew '08 were not film majors, so they were learning the technical aspects of filming along with the art of storytelling. Three students were assigned to each film.
"They really had to learn on their feet," said David Davidson, a World Crew instructor and director of the master's program in Media Arts Production at City College.
They started with a smaller project, going around Pleasantville to interview a parking attendant, a building inspector and a man responsible for watering the flowers around town.
Wading into more personal territory with the immigrant project, they faced the challenge of gaining their subjects' trust.
What emerged was a portrait of individuals who represent a growing presence in Westchester, but in some ways remain invisible to their neighbors, Davidson said. "If we can't get them talking to each other right away, maybe (we can) get them listening to each other," he said. "That's a good first step."
The instructors are hoping to reach a wide audience. The short films will be circulated among schools and community groups, and later available for download on the Burns Center's Web site.
And though a film won't erase ethnic tensions or real disagreements over immigration policy, Todd said she hoped to provide "a time when the audience can experience another person's humanity."
"And then, that way, we can work together better and create better opportunities and create better laws, and whatever we need to do," she said.
Source: The Journal News
By Leah Rae
With the premiere of three short films tonight, a group of college students will present close-up portraits of Latino immigrants in Westchester.
The minidocumentaries "Ana," "Marco" and "Martha" will debut in a free screening at the Jacob Burns Film Center. They are the work of nine students from World Crew '08, a summer program that is part of the center's growing educational component.
The character Ana is a Chilean-born social worker who tries to organize housekeepers in Sleepy Hollow. Marco is an Ecuadorean landscape contractor in Ossining and Martha is a senior at Fox Lane High School whose family came from Mexico.
"We try to explore what's behind the stereotypes of Latinos in our community," said Susan Todd, a documentary filmmaker and World Crew's director. The first round of World Crew students went to Uganda in 2007 and produced the film "Shooting for Peace," documenting the struggles of daily life there. Last year's group turned an eye on something closer to home, though international in scope. The stories reflect the modern realities of immigration.
"Here the struggle for citizenship is just so extreme and ongoing. It think it gives rise to a different perspective on what an immigrant is," Todd said. "I think the films show real human struggle and emotion and commitment to trying to make a better life. And I think that's what, in essence, being an immigrant in the United States is all about. But it's changing."
One theme is the "transnational" existence of immigrants who live in two cultures at once. Another is the changing economic climate in the United States.
Tania Zapata, a 30-year-old a film major at City College of New York, said her interviews with Marco served to break through her own prejudice against immigrant laborers. She said that unlike Marco, she immigrated to the United States with a resident's visa. A native of Colombia, she gained an understanding of her subject's motivation as his family's main provider. He works at building a life in the United States, knowing that it might not last.
She found it painful to pare down eight or 10 hours of footage into a short segment, but she is excited to see her work being shown outside of school.
Most students in World Crew '08 were not film majors, so they were learning the technical aspects of filming along with the art of storytelling. Three students were assigned to each film.
"They really had to learn on their feet," said David Davidson, a World Crew instructor and director of the master's program in Media Arts Production at City College.
They started with a smaller project, going around Pleasantville to interview a parking attendant, a building inspector and a man responsible for watering the flowers around town.
Wading into more personal territory with the immigrant project, they faced the challenge of gaining their subjects' trust.
What emerged was a portrait of individuals who represent a growing presence in Westchester, but in some ways remain invisible to their neighbors, Davidson said. "If we can't get them talking to each other right away, maybe (we can) get them listening to each other," he said. "That's a good first step."
The instructors are hoping to reach a wide audience. The short films will be circulated among schools and community groups, and later available for download on the Burns Center's Web site.
And though a film won't erase ethnic tensions or real disagreements over immigration policy, Todd said she hoped to provide "a time when the audience can experience another person's humanity."
"And then, that way, we can work together better and create better opportunities and create better laws, and whatever we need to do," she said.
Source: The Journal News
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