2nd Social Work Alumni Film Festival

Join us as we debut 4 films from alumni and community change agents on Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 1 pm (PDT).

Impact storytelling is an emerging tool that can be used to inform a wider audience about the most pressing societal issues of our time. The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work’s Documentary Filmmaking for Social Change, now in its second year, is a post-graduate professional development course aimed at providing social workers and community advocates the tools necessary to help tell the stories of their clients and the communities they serve.
The post-graduate course is similar to the graduate level, Media in Social Work elective course, now in its 17th year and founded by Clinical Professor Rafael Angulo, is the only course at an accredited school of social work that focuses on impact storytelling through documentary filmmaking. Our MSW students have produced more than 109 short films over the past 17 years, many of which have been used by agencies such as Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to educate their clients.

This model – Deliberative Filmmaking – social workers are on the front line exploring the documentary as social impact entertainment. Today, digital video production tools and computer non-linear editing equipment can more easily allow a social worker to be a ‘witness’ to individual and group struggles, provide a deeper ecosystems perspective to societal problems of the disenfranchised, inform the public about social pathologies, engage with larger social movements, and proactively work for policy change through documentary storytelling.

Highlighting the 2021 Alumni Films

LaVeta: “Get Out - Get Free”
A Kathern Paige film explores the story of Laveta whose story of courage and survival speaks to women everywhere about resilience and starting over.

Ask the Old Guy. 
An Anthony Carter film examines himself after being told that his blood pressure puts him dangerously close to stroke territory. This middle-aged black man decides to live until 102 and invites 10,000 black men to do the same.

#belonging
A Susan Shing film that explores the world of young adults with disabilities and the potential of technology to help them connect and build community with each other.

Achieving Greatness 
A Kristina Chatow film tells the story of three families whose lives were changed forever by a non-profit which gives economically disadvantaged students the skills and mindset to attend college and succeed in life.