Chinese filmmaker Tian Leng shares his journey from Changzhou to New York City through photography and film. His video “Yuan Lin,” about the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, gives an intimate look at a fascinating traditional Chinese building located at the Staten Island Botanical Garden. Tian’s short documentary “Dear Friend Chinatown” explores the casual encounters […]

  Filmmaker and Brooklyn College Film Department professor Vinit Parmar is committed to telling the stories of the underrepresented. Vinit’s debut documentary, “Living River,” focuses on the Ganges River, polluted not only by the people who revere its holiness but also by industry seeking profit while endangering the health and livelihood of millions who live […]

  Filmmaker and Baruch College Professor Eugene Marlow shares his motivations to produce “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story,” a short documentary about a seminal event leading up to The Holocaust. The film describes the events of November 9-10, 1938, when Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, synagogues, and homes all over Germany and parts of […]

  Ali Reza Khoshkjan shares his journey from Tehran to Brooklyn, NY, to fulfill his dream of becoming a filmmaker. His short film “The Banned,” takes a look at the lives of Iranian-Americans affected by the Trump administration ban restricting travel from Muslim-majority countries. Ali reflects on the urgency to show another side of the […]

  Julienne Verdi, the founder of Move Forward Staten Island, describes how her organization sprang up after the 2016 presidential election and united residents wanting to get involved in local social justice issues. She shares how the use of social media helped engage constituents with their elected officials. Verdi also introduces us to “Staten Island’s […]

https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTVdigitalseries/videos/796044384175531/ CCNY’s award-winning documentary filmmaker Vivan Rivas talks about her motivations for telling stories. Vivian describes the impact of being a cinematographer for “Abused: The Postville Raid,” a documentary about a massive immigrant raid in Ohio. She also describes her work as a film student and her thesis film “Ebb Tide,” a documentary about a […]

https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTVdigitalseries/videos/823315904784963 Cecilia R. Mejia is the producer of ‘The Unstoppable,’ a short film inspired by a black teenage girl’s real-life battle with anxiety and depression. She discusses the film’s mission to help shed light on mental health issues affecting young people of color. Julianna Greenidge, writer of the story and lead actor, describes her emotional […]

https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTVdigitalseries/videos/1010423822683022/ Patrick G. Lee, a filmmaker, and community organizer discusses his film ‘Unspoken’ which explores the challenges of six LGBTQ Asian Americans talking with immigrant parents about queerness, gender identity, and sexuality. In his series ‘Searching for Queer Asian Pacific America,’ Patrick explores the stories behind specific moments of queer Asian-Pacific Islander history. Unspoken: LGBTQ […]

https://www.facebook.com/CUNYTVdigitalseries/videos/487910582034292/ Staten Island filmmaker James Verdi shares his fascinating journey through the history of his beloved birthplace. Using striking drone footage, his first documentary “The Boneyard” unveils stories of abandoned warships, slowly decaying in the island’s shores. In “Loyalty & Rebellion,” Verdi unearths unknown aspects of the local influence in the Revolutionary War. In the […]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2068349876610002 Filmmaker Juliane Dressner sits down with CUNY TV Short Docs to talk about the types of films she is drawn to, using her work documenting the CUNY-affiliated program College Access: Research & Action (CARA) as an example. In the interview, she describes the process of following Karoline, Christine, and Enoch, three high school low-income […]