Documentaries as Learning Tools: The Filmmaker’s Perspective

The Authority File

In this four-part series with Sage, five guests join the podcast to chat about the value and applications of documentary films in the classroom. Virginia Espino, Continuing Lecturer, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, offers the faculty perspective, sharing how she measures learning outcomes and utilizes films for instruction. Filmmaker Set Hernandez shares their filmmaking experience and examines the cultural and emotional impact of documentaries at the college level. UC Berkeley’s Film and Media Services Librarian Gisèle Tanasse explores how the library works with faculty to build film-led curricula and ensures access to visual media. Finally, Sarah Feinbloom, a filmmaker and the founder of GOOD DOCS, and Sage’s Senior Director of Library Editorial Michael Carmichael, discuss building a documentary collection and the benefits of the Sage-GOOD DOCS partnership for customers and the wider market.

In this first episode, Set, Virginia, and Sarah provide an overview of how documentary films aid teaching and learning. First, Virginia reveals the humanizing effects for students of using No Más Bebés—a documentary she co-produced on the forced sterilization of Mexican women at the Los Angeles-USC Medical Center in the late 1960s to early 1970s—in conjunction with traditional research sources. Next, Set explains the background behind their film unseen. Centered on a blind and undocumented aspiring social worker earning his college degree, the documentary fosters empathy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness in its audiences through its cinematographic techniques and audio-centered filmmaking.

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