Student Gallery
Documentary Filmmaking Workshop
During the summer of 2006 Nathan Reetz from the Digital Aquarium, Georgia State's premiere multimedia laboratory and Colombian born Media-Educator and Documentary Filmmaker Roberto Arévalo developed and implemented Beyond Documentary. Beyond Documentary is an intensive, hands-on documentary workshop taught twice a year to students from diverse departments at Georgia State. Students learn how to produce documentaries using Ethnographic, Cinema Verité and Direct Cinema approaches.
During the six-month workshop, Arévalo guides students through a process of self-discovery and self-representation. This methodology stimulates mutual learning, and moves from basic documentation techniques to a process of tremendous personal growth for subject and producer alike.
Cumulatively these documentaries represent a tangible reflection of the South that is rarely known by either locals or outsiders. The documentaries represent and reflect Arévalo’s documentary style, which is full of candor, vividness, and wisdom. Over the past three years, Beyond Documentary has helped more than twenty students produce their own documentaries.
Introduction to the Exhibit
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Project Introduction |
Student Work
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Keeping Trackby Hadley Breckenridge |
This Atlanta man may seem to be a normal, cheerful, southern gentleman at first sight. However, through this documentary he is seen out of the normal context, opening and exploring a nostalgic world that he is both comforted by and trying to save. History and tales of a different time are told in this documentary; a Golden Age in which trains and steam engines raced across the nation, a time which many of us know little about. It is human form vs. man-made machinery. |
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About the Filmmaker - Hadley Breckenridge graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a BA in Journalism in 2002. She received her MFA in Photography from Georgia State University in 2005. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Art Department at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been represented by the Krause Gallery in the Castleberry Hills Art District in Atlanta since 2004. Hadley was also featured as an artist/photographer in the documentary film La Vision by Roberto Arevalo in 2003. Her latest work, Keeping Track, a video documentary, exposes her meticulous eye and exquisite composition transferred from her photography exploration into video. | |
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Tools in the Garageby Jyoti Hanagud |
This documentary is an exploration of the evolution, adaptation and culture of one young woman, Tulsi "Tools" Patel. Tools in the Garage" is a reflection of not only Tulsi's story but also of the director's personal investigations of her own identity. The film traces the steps in Tulsi's journey from her hometown in India to Atlanta, Georgia; a journey of a young soul, a blooming flower, a voice for us to hear. | |
About the Filmmaker - Jyoti Hanagud investigates the dynamic experience of her own and others' perspectives on what it's like to be bi-cultural, a person of color as well as the child of immigrant parents. |
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God Wrestlersby Matt Owens & Garrett Gentry |
God Wrestlers is an exploration of the UCW (Ultimate Christian Wrestling) organization. Started in 2003, the UCW's goal is to deliver their ministry through the unique medium of professional wrestling. The group travels to churches, schools, and military bases, bringing their unique form of ministry to audiences. The verité-style document of the ministry with a ring as a pulpit, and wrestlers as disciples open a window to a world that few are familiar to. | |
About the Filmmakers - Matt Owens and Garrett Gentry are both seeking degrees in film and anthropology. This is their second and most ambitious documentary they work on together. They are currently working on an extended cut of God Wrestlers, in addition to a lot of projects that are perpetually discussed but rarely executed. They are looking for more scintillating work in the future. |
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Dying To Liveby Jeronique Bartley |
We are all forced to live because no one has ever asked to be born into this world. This is an engaging tale of a young girl born to unsuspecting parents. After losing one of her parents she is forced into survival mode: fighting everyday for a chance at life. Through her struggles, victories, defeats, and triumphs Jeronique shows us all that she is just another individual. | |
About the Filmmaker - A native of Atlanta, GA Jeronique is the fourth of six girls born to Melissa Gordon and Jerome Bartley. Jeronique' interest in the entertainment industry was sparked at a very young age after being asked to act and model by Ultrasage Modeling Troupe. Her interest in acting and modeling has led to her appearance in several fashion shows as well as a few stage plays, two regional commercials, and one local commercial. A marketing student at Georgia State University, Jeronique has become infatuated with the processes involved with film-making. When off stage and away from the camera's Jeronique enjoys; teaching; hanging out with her three year old son Jelani Josiah Bartley; and giving back to the community in whatever way she can. Many times you can find Jelani helping his mom with her projects. For more information or to contact Jeronique visit her web page at www.myspace.com/jeronique. |
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Nuestar Historia / Our Historyby Ladona Oatman |
This documentary encompasses the thoughts and stories of a couple that come from two different cultures, Mexican and African-American. Emilio Luis shares some of his personal life while being filmed working as a drywall finisher. Ladonna, the director (only heard in the documentary) displays the mixing of the two cultures in this relationship with this bilingual documentary. | |
About the Filmmaker - LaDonna Oatman is a senior studying Speech Communication at Georgia State University. She is interested in Spanish language and Latino American Culture. |
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The Ties That Bindby Dora McFadden |
A self-reflective documentary in which Dora shares her vitality for life while at the same time giving insight into the world of depression. Even thought this is her first documentary, the use of metaphor and aesthetics in her piece are compelling. Dora McFadden Recently returned to GSU, her alma mater, to prepare for a graduate degree program. While walking the halls of the ever-growing GSU campus, she came upon the Digital Aquarium and the opportunity to participate in the Beyond Documentary intensive workshop. | |
About the Filmmaker - Dora McFadden recently returned to GSU, her alma mater, to prepare for a graduate degree program. While walking the halls of the ever-growing GSU campus, she came upon the Digital Aquarium and the opportunity to participate in the Beyond Documentary intensive workshop. |
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Crossing The Boundaryby Dan Zhang |
Having lived with his grandparents in China for thirteen years, wenqiang Xu, moved to Atlanta a year ago to be with his parents. His life becomes a challenge as his parents divorced and he struggles to adjust to a new school, language and culture. His previous ideas of the world are transforming and he still has hopes for a better future. | |
About the Filmmaker - After completing her undergraduate study in Journalism in China, Dan Zhang joined the GSU communications graduate program in 2006. New in this country, she senses all the differences: language, culture, living patterns and ways of thinking. Seeing through the surface, she finds that underneath similarities: the categorization of social classes, the political dominant power and the media’s role as both enabling and constraining. In her first documentary production, Dan Zhang sees through the camera her nephew’s life story and her own. |
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Gaining Focusby Sharmily Roy |
Gaining Focus is an exploration of a young first generation American’s journey to come to terms with the suicide of a son and a brother. This becomes a challenge for the family values and shapes how the family addresses issues such as religion, sexuality and health. | |
About the Filmmaker - Sharmily Roy was born in Uganda to Bangladeshi parents and migrated to the US at the age of nine. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and received a BA in International Relations from Agnes Scott College. She finds that documentary is a powerful tool that transcends cultural barriers and becomes and effective medium to reach individuals from all walks of life. This is her first documentary production. She plans to continue to tell many more stories that explore human connections. |
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About the Instructor
Roberto Arévalo, Media Educator & Doc Producer
www.Beyondocumentary.com
Colombian born media educator and documentary maker Roberto Arévalo teaches and produces documentary projects that promote social, cultural and personal awareness. Since 1992 Arévalo has used cinema verité, direct cinema, ethnographic and story telling approaches in his documentary work.
Arévalo is the founder of Beyond Documentary an organization dedicated to the distribution, creation, and teaching of documentary. Currently Arévalo is an artist-in-residence at the Digital Aquarium, Georgia State University where he teaches an intensive documentary workshop to groups of students from the communications, anthropology and art departments. This collaboration has resulted in the production of 20 short documentaries, southern stories that are rarely or never told.
Arévalo has produced over 20 documentaries about youth, public health, immigrant experiences in the United States, education and art. Arévalo’s documentary work and the work of his students is recognized for its non-scripted nature. It captures people’s stories by using hand-held cameras, natural lighting and sound resulting in documentaries full of candor, vividness, and wisdom.
The subjects/collaborators of Arévalo’s documentaries are involved in the planning of their stories. This methodology stimulates mutual learning, and moves from basic documentation techniques to a process of tremendous personal growth for subject and producer alike. Arévalo also photographs the people and environments where the videos are created. Arévalo’s productions are first screened in the communities where they are produced and later at museums, festivals and universities nationwide.
In 1992 Arévalo founded The Mirror Project in Somerville, Massachusetts to teach teenagers at the Somerville Mystic Housing Developments, Watertown, Cambridge, Boston and other areas of the country how to produce documentaries about their every day experiences. Through an intensive hands-on curriculum, Arévalo guided students through a process of self-discovery and self-representation. After more than a decade of collaboration with teenagers, Arévalo and teen producers created more than 150 short documentaries and many of them have been critically acclaimed, winning prizes and being featured at festivals, universities, and museums nationwide.
Roberto Arévalo’s documentary work is relevant for individuals, practitioners and institutions in the following fields: American Studies, Anthropology, Art Education, Communications, Community Organizing, Colombian Studies, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Immigrant Studies, Latin American Studies, Media Arts, Museum Studies, Public Heath, Psychology, Sociology, Urban Studies, Women’s Studies, Youth Services, Social Studies, Social Work, and Spanish.
Please visit www.beyondocumentary.com for a list of awards, publications and presentations.
