Students from KSC’s “Picturing Place” class, taught by Assistant Professor of Film Studies Taylor Dunne, showcased a series of seven short documentaries covering the various topics relating to the history of Cheshire County.
“Picturing Place” is an honors level course that focuses on research, conducting oral histories and interviews. The class spent the semester creating documentaries and audio projects. Each student created their own documentary and audio project. While only the documentaries were shown at the screening, a QR code to a playlist of the audio projects was included within the event’s program.
The Historical Society of Cheshire County, which welcomed the students for a special tour of their facility earlier in the semester, offered to host the screening of the documentaries as part of their “Lunch and Learn” event series. More than twenty people attended the event on Monday, April 29, at the Historical Society of Cheshire County.
HSCC Director of Education Jennifer Carroll said the project was a good opportunity to expose students to historical research, while also helping to build roots in the community.
“Projects like this are really about understanding the historical context of why a community is the way that it is,” said Carroll.
“In order to have that understanding, you have to be able to think critically about these resources the students have been provided, and help encourage them to make their own discoveries. It’s really special to see what they’ve come to learn through this process,” added Carroll.
First-year student Cameron Rockwell debuted his twelve minute documentary “Third Space: The Evolution of the Keene Public Library” at the screening. The short film explored the library’s history, from its founding to the present day.
“I’ve always loved libraries, and this project really helped me build a connection to it,” said Rockwell.
“I feel like a lot of the time, our world as students can be restricted to our own little campus bubble. With my project, and really with everyone’s, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the greater community I’m living in,” Rockwell added.
Assistant Professor of Film Studies Taylor Dunne said the class project combines filmmaking and historical research together.
“Not all of these students are film majors, and some have never worked with a camera before,” said Dunne. “It’s an honors class, but it’s really for anybody who has an interest in research. This really is a different way to digest research away from the traditional paper. Making a movie or an audio project out of it can be a really great and creative way to express that research, and it’s been really cool to see what they all came up with,” Dunne added.
Cary Hueber attended the event to support his son, who is one of the filmmakers, and said he enjoyed all of the projects.
“All of the stories were really fascinating,” said Hueber. “There were so many things I learned that I had no idea about before. Some of this stuff you walk by a hundred times a day and never think twice about, and I know I’m just going to have a whole new perspective now,” added Hueber.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
