Students in an Ex College class are presenting what they learned this semester: Somali Bantus have trouble assimilating into American culture and alternative fuels have big advantages over U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Professor Roberta Oster Sachs' class, "Producing Films for Social Change," is holding a screening today of the 12- to 17-minute documentary films students made.
The 16 students made four films. In addition to the Bantu and alternative energies films, students explored a state drunk driving bill and in-state tuition for Latino immigrants.
"I worked on TUTV news freshman year," junior Michael Stone said. "What I learned then was nowhere near what I learned here."
Stone was in the tuition group, and he said the other students in the class learned just as much. "The majority of the class had never worked with a camera before," he said. "The class has really been transformed."
Junior Christelle Valembrun and the other students in her group chose to document the lives of a Somali Bantu family living in Chelsea. "The second or third class, [Oster Sachs] brought in an article from the Boston Globe about this agency that dumps Somali Bantus in America and then abandons them here," Valenbrun said.
Everyone in the class helped write, produce, direct and edit the films. "We all played all the roles," Valembrun said. "We scheduled shoots usually at 8 a.m. to go to Chelsea to this woman's house. We had shoots almost every weekend. Everyone could do everything if it came down to it. We wanted everyone to have a well-rounded experience."
The drunk driving group's students came up with the idea on their own. "I knew that I wanted to do a topic more on a person than an issue," senior Leah Tucker said. "I went on LexisNexis looking for articles on accidents and then drunk driving accidents."
Tucker found the story of Ron Bersani, the grandfather of a 13-year-old Massachusetts girl killed by a repeat-offender drunk driver in 2003. After intense lobbying by Bersani, in May Governor Mitt Romney proposed Melanie's Bill, named after the girl, Melanie Powell, to increase punishments for repeat drunk drivers.
"It was so powerful how one person can make such a change," Tucker said.
Students said they hope their documentaries have an impact on their audience.
"I hope to get people to think more about the repercussions of the lifestyle that comes from dependence on petroleum, and get people thinking about alternative fuel seriously," senior Phil Martin said.
Valembrun is looking for a more immediate effect. "We want this film to start a connection between the Somali Bantu people and Tufts," she said. "If we could get Tufts involved in tutoring the kids in English, that would be amazing. As it stands, they've been here two years and haven't assimilated."
The lesson from the class, students said, is that change is possible. "We wanted to show people who may not be aware about social change and advocacy that one person can start to make a difference," Tucker said.
