ITAL1911: Community/Media/Activism: Building Resilience Through Cinema

"Community/Media/Activism: Building Resilience through Cinema" challenges first-year students to think beyond the borders of a field, an area of study, and the classroom space by engaging with local communities and learn through service. After learning about the importance of media for social justice and acquiring elements of media literacy, students will collaborate with a community partner on a film project advocating its mission. During the first 10 weeks of instruction, "Community/Media/Activism" will explore—through screenings, filmmakers’ masterclasses, invited community speakers, experiential assignments—how, in Italy, film and media have been deployed to favor political change, inclusivity, and diversity; to fight for social and ecological justice; to expose unseen and unheard stories; to question prejudices that have to do with race, gender, class, body shape, and cognitive abilities. The last five weeks of class will run as a media lab where students under the mentorship of a local media-activist will work on a short film that relies on the strategies and practices unpacked during the course.

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