WFU premieres faculty produced films

The first documentary, “The Life-Giving Gift of Acknowledgement,” was produced by Wake Forest faculty members Michael Hyde, Mary Dalton and Steve Jarrett, and directed by former faculty member and award-winning filmmaker, Brett Ingram. The film incorporates the theme from the 2003-2004 academic year, “Fostering Dialogue.”

The documentary explores the theme by focusing on students who participated in Ingram’s seminar, “Dialogue and Documentary.” As part of their course work, student teams were assigned to work with various community organizations to produce documentaries. The faculty produced film documents the students’ experiences in fostering dialogue while working on their projects.

“This is great for Wake Forest,” said Hyde, Distinguished University Chair of Communication. “The premiere of the film not only officially kicks-off our film studies program, but showcases the valuable, life-changing education students gain from service learning projects.”

Beginning in the fall of 2004, the film studies minor is new at Wake Forest. The minor is an interdisciplinary program offering courses such as international cinema, film production and various courses related to areas of study such as art, English and communication.

The second documentary, “Building Pro Humanitate: A Video Diary of Service in Vietnam,” was also produced by Dalton and directed by Ingram and centers on 12 Wake Forest students who took a service trip last year to Vietnam. The students teamed up with Vietnamese students to build a school in a remote village, then spent a second week touring cultural sites around the country.

The university will use this film to promote service learning projects and explore the transforming effects such projects have on students, said Dalton.