UAB Media Studies students learn how to make documentary films focusing on communities and issues they care about in a semester.Media Studies students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have created documentaries exploring topics of interest for the Birmingham community. Eight of them will premiere at the McWane Science Center IMAX Theatre on Wednesday, April 24, from 7-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Documentaries by UAB students have been screened at the McWane Science Center for the last 24 years. Students work in small production teams to produce short documentary films about local issues and communities.
“Creating these documentaries is a chance for students to apply what they have learned in the classroom,” said Michele Forman, director of the Media Studies Program. “Students have continually delivered interesting, original work over the years, honing their craft as filmmakers, while also developing so many other skills as researchers, interviewers and ethical storytellers, charged with representing someone else’s story fairly.”
This year’s films are about the arts program for autistic adults at Studio by the Tracks, Brookwood Mall’s past and future, the competitive bodybuilding community in Birmingham and the rise of body image issues for men and boys, dating culture in the age of apps, the threats facing Alabama’s rare Eastern Hemlock Trees, Birmingham’s entrepreneurial community, and the collaborations between the Alabama Ballet and Alabama Symphony.
Creators of these documentaries include students from the Honors College, College of Arts and Sciences, Collat School of Business, and School of Engineering and School of Health Professions representing the departments of English, Theatre, Psychology, Art and Art History, Anthropology, Computer Science, Communication Studies, Mathematics, Economics, Biomedical Engineering, and Nutrition, and the Neuroscience Program and the Entrepreneurship Program.
Learn more about the Media Studies Program here.
The Media Studies Program is a part of the Department of History and is designed to provide interdisciplinary grounding in the history, theory and practice of media. It prepares students for professional work in media industries and teaches them to effectively utilize media in their major field of interest. Students in the program work in communities in the Greater Birmingham area, collaborating with nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups and cultural institutions.