Dr. Andy Opel, associate professor of Communication and the director of the Media Production Program, and four Media Production majors took part in the Full Frame Fellows Program at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C., April 12-15.

Thanks to the generous support of the Bickel Scholarship, Cat Sullivan (’12), Pierce Kafka (’12), Travis Cantey (’13) and Stephen Richmond (’12) were able to join students from 12 other universities as part of the annual fellows program at Full Frame.

Full Frame is one of the leading documentary festivals in the country, attracting more than 1,200 submissions from around the world this year and screening more than 100 films.  The fellows program gives students access to a series of master classes where they get direct access to filmmakers and industry representatives.

“The experience of networking with the students from all the other universities was a great addition to meeting the more established film makers such as Stanley Nelson,” Sullivan said.

All four students were enrolled in Dr. Opel’s documentary production course, RTV 4332/5325, and were knee deep into the editing process when they took the time out to attend the festival.

“Even this late in the process of shooting our own documentary, it was nice to take time off for the festival,” Cantey said. “Watching each story unfold and studying the stylistic choices of each film really gave us the creative inspiration we needed to push through our final edit.”

Watching five or six films a day and attending workshops sets a grueling pace but the intensity of the experience is infectious.  “It was an amusement park for movie buffs and a film maker’s paradise. This community gathers once a year to share stories and I left inspired to find my own story to tell,” Kafka said.

Steven Richmond added, “Learning how to approach filmmakers and industry professionals and have a legit conversation with them was an invaluable experience.”

The range of topics and styles provides students an excellent opportunity to experience the current state of the documentary form.  From the complexity of health care examined in Escape Fire (http://www.escapefiremovie.com/) to the personal reflections of documentary icon Ross McElwee in his new film Photographic Memory (http://photographicmemorythemovie.com/) to visually stunning and environmentally terrifying Chasing Ice (http://chasingice.com), these students were challenged to reconsider their assumptions, aesthetics and career paths as the festival opened their eyes to the vibrant world of documentary film. For more information, go to www.fullframefest.org.