skip the i-GuideIllinois State UniversityAdmissions at ISUAcademics at ISUEvents at ISUMap of ISUISU A to Z ListingISU AccessibilityISU 150th Anniversary
College of Arts and Sciences News
Article Details
FYI: Get Involved!
FYILogo
Illinois State University will become part of a national discussion on how students use communication technologies to express themselves, joining with media powerhouses like Microsoft, USA Today, and Toshiba on Wednesday, April 5, at 7:00 p.m. in Capen Auditorium. The event, part of the national Film Your Issue program, endorsed by major mass media figures including Walter Cronkite, Senator Barack Obama, Anderson Cooper, the Dalai Lama, and actor George Clooney, will feature a screening of finalists in the last round of student-produced issue films, including a documentary short produced by the Illinois State Student Television Workshop to promote the ISU Innocence Project. A discussion panel on Film and Social Consciousness in the Digital Age will include national representatives from Microsoft, USA Today, Toshiba, and Film Your Issue as well as experts from Illinois State University. After the screening of the short student films and the panel discussion, organizers will show the Academy-Award Nominated feature film Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney.

Participants on the expert panel for the Film and Social Consciousness in the Digital Age include Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Gary Olson; Brent Simonds, Assistant Professor of Communication and award-winning educational documentary producer; John McHale, Assistant Professor of Communication and director/producer of Picture This: A Fight to Save Joe and co-advisor of the Student Television Workshop and Innocence Project; Robert McLaughlin, Associate Professor of English; Janka Albert, student producer of the Illinois State winning entry in the last FYI round; HeathCliff Rothman, founder of FYI: FILM YOUR ISSUE, on the vision of FYI; a representative from MSN Spaces to discuss creating online community for socially conscious filmmakers; Jill S. Pulvera, a representative from USA Today to discuss First Amendment issues and a call to submit written editorials for USAToday.com; and a representative from Toshiba to discuss next generation digital filmmaking advances.

“Film is amidst a cycle of social activism,” said Rothman, founder of FYI: FILM YOUR ISSUE. “Not since the golden era of the 1970s have films been such aggressive social agitators—from issue-oriented films like Syriana, North Country, and Brokeback Mountain to mass-appeal documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11, Supersize Me, and the upcoming Inconvenient Truth.”

The ISU Documentary Project is dedicated to the goal of cross-disciplinary collaboration in the production of documentaries that celebrate the civic engagement project of Illinois State students and dedicated to exploring issues important to students, particularly those issues raised as part of the American Democracy Project. Other sponsors of the event include the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Communication, the Student Television Workshop, COMM, and the Innocence Project.
Return