Films Section # 8 : Student Films from Michigan State University, USA

20th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2018

Student films from Michigan State University - Curated by Dr Swarnavel Easwaran

1. From Flint: Voices of a Poisoned City (A Student Academy Award Winner, 2016, duration; 25 minutes)

Director: Elise Conklin

Producer: Liv Larsen —Journalism

Director of Photography: Izak Gracy

Editor: Lauren Selewski

Gaffer/co-editor: Jenna Ange

Elise Conklin

From Flint: Voices of a Poisoned City is a documentary that tells the story of the Flint Water Crisis from the perspectives of those who have experienced this tragedy first hand and from activists on the ground working throughgrass-root organizations to make a difference. While the national news media has been covering this event through the governmental point of view, From Flint takes you inside the city to uncover this incident first hand. This film was made for the capstone class of the documentary production minor, but it was never approached as a student project. The team of 5 students approached this in the most professional way possible, sacrificing their time, money, and passion to make sure that this story was told in the best way possible. They made sure to volunteer alongside organizations helping Flint, and learning the stories that the residents wanted to be told. They were there to offer a service to the people of the city, not to capitalize on their pain.

2. Composing Our Stories (Winner: Accolade Global Film Competition and Impact Docs Awards, 2017, duration: 36 minutes)

A short documentary film following an orchestral composer and his approach to connecting human sentiment with music through a unique form of storytelling.

Director: Zoe Kissel

Collaborators: Christain Kolo and Dylan Kissel

3. Negotiations (Best Documentary: Spartan Film Festival, 2017, duration: 30 minutes)

Shot in a cinema verite style, Barnes displays the poor treatment of teachers in Michigan and how this trickles down to the classroom.

This film follows the Michigan teachers as they fight to win a fair contract while showcasing the failure of the local leaders in ensuring that those educating our future are treated fairly. It also highlights social issues affecting students such as homelessness and hunger that may prevent them from doing better in the classroom. Consequently, their classroom success is also what heavily dictates teacher pay, without taking into consideration the circumstances that affect low-income children.

Director: Zachary Barnes

Collaborators: Michigan School Teachers

4. Migrations of Islam (Official Selection Ethnogra, Queens, and many other festivals, and Conferences including SOAS, duration: 55 minutes)

A Collaboration between MSU faculty (director: Swarnavel Eswara, producer: Salah D. Hassan, editor: Pete Johnston) and a team of their students.

Professor and filmmaker Swarnavel Eswaran will introduce and facilitate discussions after the screenings (30 minutes)