Documentaries from the School of Journalism

In this program we present four documentaries completed through UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism as thesis projects. Charlotte Fadipe and Josiah Hooper's Fillmore No More (27 mins) takes us to San Francisco's Fillmore district to chronicle the area from its jazz roots to the present, using archival footage, interviews with locals, and a cameo by Mayor Willie Brown to examine the effects of urban redevelopment on a once-thriving African American community. Red, White, Blue November (28 mins) by Sapana Sakya and Saidah Said is about a family of Hmong immigrants, the Thaos, living in Fresno. The film captures the rituals they perform on November 19, the significance of which becomes clear over the course of the film. Grandma's Hands (28 mins) by Jennifer Paige looks at the difficulties children experience when their parents abandon them because of substance abuse. Through interviews with the children and the grandparents they live with, Paige uncovers the emotional weight of the situation. Gabriela Quirós's Tango 73: A Bus Rider's Diary (28 mins) uses humor to describe the daily inconveniences of public transportation. Quirós draws on her experience as a bus rider in her home country, Costa Rica, as well as here in the Bay Area.-CG, JVCatlin Green and Jessica Vargas are recent graduates of the Film Studies Program.

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