Within 16 weeks, thirteen undergraduate students will produce, write, shoot, and edit a short piece for their Social Justice Documentary class at Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Under the direction of the University’s Department of Communication faculty Steve McWilliams, John O’Leary and Matt Marencik, the class aims to empower their subjects through advocacy filmmakin
g. This year, the students will focus on Hopeworks, a non-profit organization in Camden, NJ whose mission is to use education, technology and entrepreneurship to empower young people and help them plan for a sustainable a future. Student documentaries from Villanova have screened across the globe and have been nominated as finalists at the Student Academy Awards. Villanova students have created 10+ documentaries focusing on topics like homelessness, disabilities, poverty and gun-violence in films such as “Coming of the DL,” “In Transition,” “Room for Peace,” “Heel’d,” and “No Greater Pain.” Each film aims to shed light on people or organizations who are making a positive change in their community.
