“How to Tell a True Immigrant Story” makes U.S. premiere

by Sara Miga

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 documentary is a product of collaboration between the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative (MDOCS) at Skidmore College and community partners.
 
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 made its U.S. premiere Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Adirondack Film Festival and was scheduled to be shown at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs in partnership with the Saratoga Immigration Coalition's quarterly storytelling series.

“The Adirondack Film Festival was a great place for MDOCS to share what our students and fellows are doing with the public, regional and national film community. It was a great experience for our students who attended and had work in the festival to gain access to the incredible filmmakers and industry that the festival brought together in an extremely professional and creative atmosphere,” said Storytellers’ Institute Director Sarah Friedland.

“How to Tell a True Immigrant Story” uses 360˚ VR technology.

The documentary was created by Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz, a 2016 fellow of MDOCS’ summer Storytellers’ Institute; Emily Rizzo ’18; members of the local immigrant 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.

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," MDOCS Director Tinkle said. “‘How to Tell a True Immigrant Story’ does all of this and is an example of building bridges between the community and campus.”
 
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.