Documentary Media and Human Rights Graduate Courses in 2025
Documentary Media and Human Rights Graduate Courses in 2025
FTV 544: Documentary Production (Spring 2025 Session 2 AND Fall 2025 Session 1)
(3 units) Lisa Molomot, MFA
Study with Peabody Award winning filmmaker Lisa Molomot in this introduction to documentary filmmaking for students with diverse academic backgrounds and research interests. The course is designed to serve students with no prior production training, as well as those with experience. Students will acquire and further strengthen camera, sound and editing skills, and learn to conceptualize, develop, shoot and edit short documentary projects geared toward their research interests. The course is structured primarily as a workshop to support the development, production and postproduction of your projects. A significant amount of time will be devoted to individual meetings to develop and workshop your work in progress. We will also have video lectures, class discussions, weekly readings, production exercises and assignments to strengthen your knowledge of documentary filmmaking.
HRTS 541: Advancing Human Rights Through Documentary Media (Summer 2025 Session 1 AND Fall 2025 Session 2)
(3 units) Beverly Seckinger, MFA
This course surveys current models for making and using documentary media in the service of human rights practice and activism. Interrogating concepts such as witness, testimony and evidence, historical memory, trans-media storytelling and convergence, strategic partnerships and impact campaigns, and emergent participatory frameworks, the course explores a variety of approaches to media production, exhibition, distribution and advocacy. Each course module includes interactions with distinguished filmmakers and/or media activists in the field via Zoom; exploring media products such as films, websites and online tutorials; and critical and practical readings. Students will develop term projects in consultation with the instructor.
Lisa Molomot, MFA, a graduate of the American Film Institute, is an American documentary producer, director and editor whose work has aired on PBS series such as Independent Lens and has been seen at film festivals all over the U.S., including Sundance, SXSW, New Directors, New Films and DOC NYC. To read more, visit: https://humanrightspractice.arizona.edu/people/lisa-molomot. For further information about the course, please email lmolomot@email.arizona.edu
Beverly Seckinger, MFA is Distinguished Outreach Professor in the School of Theatre, Film & Television and a founding member of the UA LGBTQ+ Institute. She is a documentary filmmaker and a longtime member of New Day Films, the leading filmmaker-owned distribution company for social issue documentaries, directs two annual film series: DocScapes and Lesbian Looks. To read more, visit: https://humanrightspractice.arizona.edu/people/beverly-seckinger. For further information about the course, please email bsecking@arizona.edu
About the Human Rights Practice Program
The wholly online BA, MA, degree and graduate certificate programs in Human Rights Practice are professionally oriented programs designed to provide you with the foundational knowledge, critical perspectives, and practical skills to advance human rights around the globe. Students graduate with a portfolio of applied work, a large network of contacts, and marketable skills for the practice and application of human rights. While doing coursework, students will help produce white papers, webinars, shadow reports, and other forms of human rights work. Human Rights Practice students examine cutting-edge issues through frequent webinars and the online participation of human rights practitioners from around the globe. Our curriculum includes unique online experiences such as virtual field trips, in-depth analyses of current human rights crises with input from actors on the ground, community-engaged projects, and incorporation of students’ own current human rights work. To read more, visit: https://humanrightspractice.arizona.edu
The Graduate Certificate in Human Rights and Documentary Media The 18-unit Graduate Certificate in Human Rights and Documentary Media integrates the study of documentary media production, outreach and impact with legal, historical, journalistic and other perspectives, and provides extensive opportunities for students to interact with professionals from around the globe. We work closely with a growing network of distinguished filmmakers, media activists and human rights media organizations including Skylight, WITNESS, New Day Films and nDigiDreams. The Graduate Certificate is open to enrolled graduate students from throughout UA. To read more, visit , https://humanrightspractice.arizona.edu/human-rights-and-documentary-media-certificate