‘How to Tell a True Immigrant Story’ makes U.S. premiere
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Using 360˚ VR technology, “How to Tell a True Immigrant Story” immerses viewers in the daily experience of seasonal migrants whose labor contributes to Saratoga Springs’ tourism and agricultural economies.
The film premiered at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in August, where it was the first 360˚ film ever to be included in their emerging filmmakers competition category.
It debuts Saturday, Oct. 19, at the nationally recognized Adirondack Film Festival and has been accepted into several more festivals, bringing a unique and complex view of Saratoga Springs to broader audiences.
The documentary is a product of collaboration between The John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS) at Skidmore College and community partners. It was created by Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, a 2016 fellow of MDOCS’ summer Storytellers’ Institute; Emily Rizzo ‘18; members of the local Latinx community and the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council. Bazaz first began planning for the film through the EOC’s Estamos Aqui photography workshops.
Skidmore College and Storytellers’ Institute alumni Eleanor Green ‘18 and Eleuterio Martinez Ramirez ‘18, and MDOCS directors Jordana Dym and Adam Tinkle also helped bring this local story to a global audience.
At the Encounters film festival in Bristol, U.K., a special jury recently recognized the film as “a moving and powerful poetic work, elevated by its collaboration with the communities whose stories it tells.” Through a participatory approach, it encourages the local community to consider how it views immigration, labor and itself.
“MDOCS is committed to finding stories worth telling in every corner of our community, working in collaborative, nonhierarchical ways with our partners and listening deeply to how those partners want to use documentary to advance their missions,” says Adam Tinkle, director of the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative.
“‘How to Tell a True Immigrant Story’ does all of this and is an example of building bridges between the community and campus.”
Of more than 100 film screenings at this year’s Adirondack Film Festival, four were created by Storytellers’ Institute alumni and supported by MDOCS faculty, staff, alumni and students. “Time Out” directed by Mary Brimmer ‘19 and Sarah Jensen ‘19, “Home: Children of the Interstices” by Sarah Maacha ‘20 and “Chinese Breakfast” by Liv Fidler ‘19 will all be shown at the festival.
“The MDOCS program at Skidmore provides a space for both creative artistry and social engagement. We aim to prepare our students to innovate and excel as makers and engage as citizens,” says Tinkle.
Following the film festival, the documentary will be shown at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs on Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. in partnership with the Saratoga Immigration Coalition’s quarterly storytelling series.
The John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS) is an interdisciplinary program that situates the documentary arts — including video, audio, virtual reality, photography, performance and multimedia — within a liberal arts education.
MDOCS helps students tell finely crafted stories that reach audiences and create social impacts. It connects Skidmore with the wider community through collaborative documentary projects and brings students and professional practitioners together through campus programming and the summer Storytellers’ Institute.