Seeking Untold Stories, Discovering the Remarkable

UNSEEN AND UNHEARD: Documentary Storytelling in the OTHER Washington

Itati Hernandez, HIPS Outreach Worker, appears in "Looking Both Ways"

During the Fall ‘08 and Spring ’09 semesters, teams of Anthropology and Film students spread out across Washington seeking untold stories and discovering the remarkable: a 13-year old Guatemalan boy speaking emotionally about his pride in being a Latino; an African American boat captain who founded a yacht club on the Anacostia, 65 years ago, when Washington was in the grip of segregation; a transgendered woman who treasures her job dispensing safe syringes to her community where HIV infection rates are at epidemic levels; an Ethiopian immigrant facing tremendous loss who finds her voice as a community leader.  

These films tell stories of individuals … and of organizations … eleven different non-profit organizations in the DC metro area that work for social change. By telling the work of the organizations through the voices of the people they serve, the films provide non-profits with valuable communication tools they might otherwise not afford, while introducing viewers to people and places all-too-often unseen and unheard.

Watch Five Minute Highlight Reel

Click here to watch student films from Fall 2008 in their entirety.

Click here to watch student films from spring 2009 in their entirety.

Films from this course, UNSEEN & UNHEARD: Documentary Storytelling in the Other Washington, tell stories that connect us to people changing their lives and to the organizations that help make change happen. They are part of a new, interdisciplinary effort at American University between the Department of Anthropology, the School of Communication and the University Library called the Center for Community Voice. CCV seeks to find innovative ways to capture, document and amplify the stories of the people of Washington, DC and help shape urban social policies responsive to the history and experience of Washington's neighborhoods often left out of the public debate. 

For more information contact: Nina Shapiro-Perl, PhD, Filmmaker-in-Residence American University shapirop@american.edu