Fatima Sesay Latoya Johnson Moreno Belic Mahreen Ali
Understanding Benjamen Walker
A title like “Theory of Everything” sounds random at first, but it is clear that the podcast’s emphasis is on technology and its influence on our culture. Finding connections where seemingly none could be made is perhaps Benjamen Walker’s most appealing talent. Walker, the man behind ToE, offers simple advice: One must believe in the human voice. It is the guiding force behind the intimacy of the podcast, enabling it to establish an instant and heartfelt connection with the listener. This is the fundamental rule that Walker holds tightly while engaging with his listeners. He loves different accents, different perspectives and different angles to view the world, but what is most striking about Walker’s work is the narrative – the crests and troughs – and its ability to convey the diversity of human voices.
Viannie Bell Sean Finnegan Paola Piers-Torres Evan Luis Solana-Cardona
Fatima Mendez Manuel Villarreal Alessandra Caltabiano Zachary Mack Elvira Blanco
Julia Pontecorvo Katerine Vasquez Arsal Asal Kim Acheson Shecoya Moore-Price
Since 1966 Jill Godmilow has been producing and directing non-fiction and narrative films including the Academy Award nominated Antonia: A Portrait Of The Woman (1974); Far from Poland, (1984) the post-realist documentary feature about the rise of the Polish Solidarity movement; Waiting for the Moon(1987), a feminist/modernist fictional feature about the lives of the literary couple Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein (1st prize, Sundance Film Festival); Roy Cohn/Jack Smith (1995), a cinematic translation of a theater piece by performance artist Ron Vawter; What Farocki Taught, a replica and interrogation of a short film by German filmmaker Harun Farocki about the production of Napalm B during the Vietnam war, and most recently, a 6 hour, DVD archive, Lear ’87 Archive (Condensed) about the work of the renown New York City theatrical collective, Mabou Mines, at work on a fully gender-reversed production of Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. Among others, she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations. In 2003, Antonia: A Portrait of The Woman was added to the prestigious National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
Angelica Amaya David Berezin Charlotte Prager Ellen Reynolds
WWJD? (What Would Jill Do?)
Filmmaker Jill Godmilow has made some bold statements about documentaries, especially their shortcomings in compelling audiences to act on the social issues that they present. In the spirit of documentary films, our group molded our response to Jill Godmilow’s presentation “Staying Out of the Torture Room: The Post-Realist Documentary” as a short documentary, where we used Jill’s own words to create questions. We interviewed people in New York City and Philadelphia, and we asked them for their own opinions about what a documentary should be.