Beyond the Frame

As much as we love making gorgeous images, media doesn’t come alive until people interact with it. We continually push the boundaries and explore ways to deepen audience engagement so people are left with a lasting impression. Our goal is to transform information into action so we have an impact far beyond publication and broadcast.

NEWEST AMERICANS

Newest Americans is a multimedia collaboratory of journalists, media-makers, artists, faculty and students telling the stories that radiate from the global city of Newark, NJ. We launched this project in 2013 with project partners Rutgers University-Newark and VII Photo. Our robust digital platform spans FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY, AUDIO STORIES, WRITTEN NARRATIVES, and INTERACTIVE STORIES. We have generated extensive public programming, as well as college and high school curriculum.

“Newark is the land of struggles and opportunities, of systematic oppression and grassroots resistance. Newest Americans invited me, a stranger in many senses, into a past made alive.”

— Thu Anh Le, FOUNDER, HUMAN LIBRARY VIETNAM

BRING IT TO THE TABLE

Bring It to The Table is a SHORT DOCUMENTARY, WEBISODE SERIES, ONLINE PLATFORM, and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN aimed at bridging political divides and breaking down partisanship. The project has helped communities across the country tackle tough conversations and learn new tools to help heal divisions.

“Bring It to The Table is a fresh approach to this seemingly intractable problem of political partisanship and isolation. The project is more than a documentary film, although it is a wonderful film. It is also an innovative engagement campaign full of possibilities for storytelling, research and teaching.”

— Mike Fancher, INTERIM DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR JOURNALISM INNOVATION AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

THE SACRIFICE ZONE

The Sacrifice Zone is a DOCUMENTARY FILM with accompanying CURRICULUM and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN focused on grassroots organizations fighting for environmental justice in their communities. Together, they serve as a playbook for organizers, environmentalists, educators and legislators to increase awareness and take action.

“This film is an illustration of the foundation of the environmental justice ideology, that we have the cumulative impact of all these facilities in our communities and how that’s what we have to attack. This film is a key element and a key tool for really communicating that issue to the world.”

— Peggy Shepard, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WE ACT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

AGING IN AMERICA

Aging in America: The Years Ahead is a journey across the topography of aging in search of what it means to have a “good old age”. This film traverses the experience of our elders from the wellderly to the elderly, as told through a series of intimate vignettes of people who are living the new old age.

This FILM, its companion BOOK, and TRAVELING EXHIBITION are the result of seven years of fieldwork by the internationally-acclaimed team of writer Julie Winokur and photographer Ed Kashi.

“A poignant and blatantly truthful image of America as it ages. I am a gerontologist and it is often difficult for many to understand and conceptualize what old age encompasses. The aging of America is not in the future but in the present and the issues that arise alongside the graying of our population need to be addressed, considered, and discussed. This look into America's older adults is a fabulous piece, which should be used by professionals and presented to society. ”

 — Ellen Perelman, SANTA MONICA, CA