Global Exchange Virtual Workshop

The course will be offered from June 15 to July 31, 2020.

An info session for interested students will be Friday, April 24 at 3 pm pdt. Contact Prof. Frasconi for more information at: pfrasconi@cinema.usc.edu.

This summer, the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Communication University of China in Beijing are offering a unique collaborative Global Exchange Virtual* Workshop on ZOOM and other platforms. Each USC student will collaborate with a CUC student to create a short documentary film about concurrent lives and developments in both nations. 

Class will meet each Monday, 6-9pm PST** plus project meetings at convenient times.

This workshop will explore the commonalities, differences, universal struggles, human emotions and challenges of life in China and in the U.S. during (and after) the global pandemic – the new normal. For example:

• What stories of solidarity, resilience, caring & creativity have emerged during this period? 
• How has our relationship to nature changed?

• How have our relationships with each other changed?
• In what ways have our cultural, economic and political identities helped us to overcome –or magnify– the challenges in this period?

The course will be in English (with translation from Mandarin as needed) and co-taught by faculty from both universities. USC Faculty: Prof. Pablo Frasconi; CUC faculty: 李勇 Li Yong   王婧 Wang Jing; SA: Yutong Liu (MFA Candidate); Course Benefactor: Stephen Lesser. 

For more info and an application, please contact: Pablo Frasconi: Pfrasconi@cinema.usc.edu or Yutong Liu: liuyuton@usc.edu

The Global Exchange Workshop was initiated 14 years ago by Distinguished Professors Mark Harris & Dr. Marsha Kinder, as a means to foster cross-cultural understanding and new collaborations, create great stories on film, and practice documentary filmmaking across cultural and political boundaries.

Watch films from previous years. 

Recent awards from this class include: The 6th China Academy Awards of Documentary Film: “The Lost Tribe”; 2017 U­­S Student Academy Award nomination, “With Cancer;” the 2016 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival; The 2017 Venice (Italy) International Film Festival; Best Editing, Beijing College Student Film Festival: “Go Gentle into the Good Night;” The Fujian Student Film Festival: “Alone With 5 Million Fans;” The 2nd Asia University Film Festival in Pusan, South Korea, and the Gold Award of the 5th Shanghai University Student Film Competition: “The Unclaimed.”

*All production will be governed by regional and national guidelines in place during the course and outlined in the syllabus.

**Note on class and time zones: the Monday 6-9pm PST SCA ZOOM class will occur simultaneously with the 9am-12noon Tuesday class at CUC in China.