stanford mfa documentary people
January 10, 2010
-
Nilima started exploring documentary as an undergrad working and volunteering with a number of NGOs. Her first subjects included an upstart animal shelter, ecotourism in Honduras, and an afterschool program in India. She wrote an award-winning honors thesis on media’s potential to improve Indian education. After an interim year teaching, studying and filming in Thailand and India, Nilima came to Stanford. There her films ranged from exploring family illness, to pet pigs. After the first year, Nilima created a summer camp for Somali refugee children in VT. There she taught filmmaking and also directed the camp. Throughout her time at Stanford, Nilima has mentored youth – which has included creating semi-fictional movies with the kdis. Nilima’s MFA thesis film, about a child in foster care, harkens back to her strongest interest. After Stanford, Nilima is headed to India to work at an innovative school, and start filming for a potential long-form documentary. Nilima has received support for her work from UVM College of Arts and Sciences URECA program, the Lintilhac Foundation, Stanford Department of Art and Art History, and The Enersen Foundation.
hd video
19:38 min.
A few months in the far-from-ordinary life of a foster youth.
16mm color film
8:05 min.
Vietnamese Pot Bellied pigs were introduced to the US in the 80s and quickly became fad pets, selling for thousands of dollars. Many owners became disillusioned due to the pigs’ size or care requirements. This film features a few current owners and their pet pigs.
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:
Maryland Film Festival, 2009
Co-directed with Matt Harnack
digital video
12:08 min.
Andy lives in the Mission District of San Francisco. He likes skateboarding and goes to community college. His favorite kind of pie is pumpkin, but not the kind from a can.
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:
Hearts and Minds Festival, 2008
16mm black and white film
7:20 min.
This film is Nilima’s exploration of the reverberations of her father’s 1970 stay at the San Francisco Zen Center. She discovers his trip taught him significant life lessons, which impacted her family in unforseeable ways.
California Native and self-proclaimed Eco-Geek, Matt Harnack uses his talents to tell inspiring stories about the environmental challenges. Matt received his Bachelors from UC Santa Barbara and Masters of Fine Art from Stanford University. In addition to his filmmaking experience he has worked as graphic artist, designing websites and posters. In 2006 Matt edited the feature documentary, The Shape of Water, directed by Kum-Kum Bhavnani and narrated by Susan Sarandon. During his time at Stanford he created 3 short films and crewed on many of his classmate’s projects. His thesis, Fossil Fuel Free Film draws on themes explored in his other work in a highly personal and self reflexive mode of representation.
hd video
21:48 min.
Powered by 100% renewable energy! Well…almost.
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:
Semi-Finalist, Angelus Film Festival, 2009
Used Matters
16mm color film
7:13 min.
What happens to all the stuff we call waste…the used matter? Take a look at some fascinating people who answer this question.
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:
Best Environmental Film, Marin County International Festival of Short Film and Video, 2009
John Kane grew up in a small town in Ohio. After graduating from Swarthmore College with a BA in English, he worked as a web developer and designer in San Francisco. Intrigued by the Latino culture surrounding him in that city’s Mission district, John began studying Spanish and eventually moved to Mexico City, where he spent two years working, traveling, and absorbing local slang. This experience deepened his interest in the complex relationships between Latin America and the United States. Back in San Francisco, John made his first documentary, Josue, Sin Cara (Josue, Without a Face), which portrayed the day-to-day life of a child undocumented immigrant from Honduras.
SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS:
Grant from The Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West, 2008
Peter Jordan is an award winning filmmaker and the founder of Localfilms, a grassroots production company that partners with international humanitarian organizations to empower communities through film. His films explore pressing human rights concerns from the perspectives of children around the world. He also teaches children how to make their own films, using plastic video cameras and a solar powered computer. He has directed film projects in Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Singapore and Mexico. His partners have included international relief organizations like Save the Children as well as many local grassroots efforts.
SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS:
Peter Marino Production Scholarship, National Academy of Television Northern California Chapter, 2007
DTran's Blog 