Photo: Heather Fipps
Cal State LA Community Impact Media Fall 2019 Documentaries
On 12 December 2019, the Cal State LA Television, Film and Media Department’s Student Production Unit premiered two student-directed documentaries at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles.
The culmination of the course Community Impact Media, the fall 2019 semester documentaries showcased LA-based nonprofits Inner City Law Center and Media Done Responsibly. During the course of the semester, student groups and their paired nonprofits collaborated to create short documentaries. The resulting films communicate how the local organizations are promoting equitable legal services and accessible media literacy training for marginalized communities in Los Angeles. As a call to action, the organizations plan to use these films to share their message to a wider network and to support fundraising activities.
Mentorship for this semester took shape in the form of visits by Hauser & Wirth staff members to Cal State LA to view the student’s raw footage and provide feedback about story development, marketing techniques, and aesthetic choices. The partnership between Cal State LA and Hauser & Wirth began in fall 2017 with the development of the Community Impact Media course. This innovative course led by Professor Heather Fipps provides student filmmakers with hands-on experience and storytelling mentorship to guide them through creation of original short documentaries for different local nonprofits each semester, encouraging students to reimagine film as a tool to catalyze social change.
View the student-directed documentaries:
Inner City Law Center Media Done Responsibly
