Students produce promotional video for women’s weaving collective in Guatemala
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matt Itelson, (415) 338-1442, matti@sfsu.edu
SF State's Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department presents
Students produce promotional video for women's weaving collective in Guatemala
SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 2008 -- Over the summer, a group of students from San Francisco State University traveled to Guatemala to weave together a video that will benefit a co-op business run by Mayan women. This is the fifth project this decade to take Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) students overseas to make videos that have a positive impact on communities abroad.
Professor Betsy Blosser led the nine students to Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala, to work with Trama Textiles, an indigenous Mayan women's weaving collective. The organization will use the short video to promote its handmade products abroad. The video, shot on mini-digital video, will be in Spanish and Mayan with English subtitles. BECA alumna Sonia De La Cruz, now a Ph.D. candidate at University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, directed production for the project.
The video will premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, in Studio One, in the basement of the Creative Arts building, SF State, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco. Admission is free.
Student Rai Poquiz said the project has strengthened his video production skills significantly and given him more appreciation for the simpler things in life.
"I instantly fell in-love with Guatemala and the people of Guatemala the second I set foot at their land," he said. "I also love being able to communicate and connect with other people, given the huge language barrier between us."
This initiative began in 2000, when Blosser was approached by one of her students, Gabriela Martinez. The Peru native, who is now an assistant professor at University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, asked Blosser about returning to her home to produce videos about the country. Inspired by this idea, Blosser developed an upper-division course in Media and Community Service, incorporating travel, video production and social change into the curriculum. In 2001, Blosser led a group of students to Peru, where they developed public service announcements for a local nonprofit organization. Blosser and a new group of students returned to Peru in 2003 to work with the same nonprofit, and did similar projects in Brazil in 2005 and Thailand in 2007.
Since the initiative began, Blosser has made a commitment to teaching students about using media for community service and social change, particularly in developing countries. In the Media and Community Service course, students produce a video for a Bay Area organization, which in 2008 was the San Francisco Conservation Corps.
The largest and most influential program of its kind in the West, SF State's Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) Department has graduated some of the top names in broadcast journalism, entertainment television and new media. BECA faculty members are authors of the most widely used textbooks on radio and television performance, broadcast news writing, television and field production, and media aesthetics. They have created respected dramatic works and documentaries, edited academic journals and contributed to scholarly publications. Visit: beca.sfsu.edu.
Location and Parking
Studio One is located in the Creative Arts building on the SF State campus, 1600 Holloway Ave. (at 19th Ave.), San Francisco. Public parking is available in Lot 20, accessed from Lake Merced Boulevard between Winston Drive and Font Boulevard. On weekends and evenings only, public parking is available in Lots 1 and 2, on Holloway Ave. (at 19th Ave.). Parking is $1 per hour with a $5 daily maximum. Visit: www.sfsu.edu/~parking.
PHOTOS/INTERVIEWS: To schedule interviews or obtain photos, contact Matt Itelson at
415/338-1442 or matti@sfsu.edu.
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Photo: Courtesy of Betsy J. Blosser
