Delighted to introduce to you the future documentary filmmakers in our Documentary Studies Certificate Program at The New School, in New York City! Meet our wonderful 14th cohort, whose final projects will be screening at the annual public film festival Truth be Told, at the end of Spring 2020:
Amrit Cheng came to the New School with a background in reporting and nonprofit advocacy. She most recently worked at the ACLU where she produced documentaries and news videos focused on voting and immigrants’ rights. With her own films, she will continue to tell visual stories that advance social change.
Claire Haughey’s previous engagements as an outdoor and experiential educator for kids and teenagers showed her the power of storytelling as a means of processing experiences and building resiliency. Combined with her love of photography and film, she became interested in the intersections of narrative therapy and filmmaking, with clear-eyed appreciation for intimate, first person narratives. She was the cinematographer and co-director for “Renga for the West” (2017), supported by the Tribeca Film Institute and broadcast on Al Jazeera’s Witness series. In previous iterations of herself, she has also been a sheep farmer, a photography teacher, and an architectural photographer.
Edward Clem is a 26-year-old filmmaker from Seattle, Washington. After studying photojournalism, he dove into the world of sports and action cinematography making daring backcountry ski movies. He is passionate about non-fiction storytelling and meeting people from all walks of life, in New York and beyond.
Johanna Case is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, photographer, an interdisciplinary designer, and a musician. She completed her BA at the New School, where she studied photography, oral history, and Arabic. Her interests focus on using arts to address anti-immigrant sentiments in the US, and interrogations of the western liberal model of documentary and humanitarianism. Most recently, Johanna was a fellow with the International Rescue Committee’s Amman-based Middle East Research and Development Hub, creating videos for Syrian and Jordanian community innovators.
Lauren McKenna is an Austalian filmmaker residing in New York. In her work, Lauren explores collaborative and community aspects of documentary filmmaking. Currently she is working on a short documentary film about queer perspectives on consent and sex education.
Lillian Xuege Li is a Chinese filmmaker living in New York. With a background in both film and graphic design, Lillian has developed a passion towards visual communications and media experimentation. She understands time as an architectural structure, and the act of building as a way to connect with others and the world.
Maliyamungu Muhande is a Congolese creative thinker with a background in advertising as an art director. She is passionate about using creative arts to affect social change. Through documentary filmmaking, Maliyamungu hopes to capture human stories that can provide us with deeper insights into history.
Sarah Wolfe has a background in journalism and the performing arts. Inspired by the works of filmmakers such as Harrod Blank (“Why Can’t I Be me? Around You)”, David Sutherland (“Marcos Doesn’t Live here Anymore”), and Tracy Droz Tragos (“Rich Hill”), she came to The New School to expand her skills in documentary filmmaking, a realm she’s long been drawn to. Sarah is particularly committed to making documentaries that remove the barriers that lead to “us vs. them” thinking; to allow people to connect with each other through their shared humanity
The New School Doc Studies 