Weaving Connections: Student Film Screening Examining the Textiles Industry

On Monday, June 5, 2017, please join us in the Black Box Theater of RJ Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, NC for the debut screening of Weaving Connections, a documentary film developed over three weeks by 45 journalism students as part of Pulitzer Center's NewsArts program.

Developed and led by artist-educator Diana Greene, the documentary filmmaking workshop guided students in creating a film that explores connections between Winston-Salem's history of textile manufacturing and the growing global textiles industry. Students visited former textile factories in Winston-Salem and spoke with experts on their city's history with manufacturing textiles. They researched the factors that led to globalization of the textiles industry and worked with Pulitzer Center grantee Jason Motlagh to examine the conditions of clothing factories in Bangladesh. Motlagh met with students in April 2017 to share his experience reporting The Ghosts of Rana Plaza, a multimedia investigation into a textile factory collapse that led to the deaths over 1,000 people. He also spoke with students about how he used writing, photography and film to capture different angles of the story.

After Motlagh's visit, students broke into teams to develop story ideas for short documentaries examining connections between the local and global textiles manufacturing industries. Students examined labor laws, the impact of automatization on wages and technological innovation, among other topics. Weaving Connections represents a blending of the students' short films into one documentary that presents the research and process explored by the students.

The Weaving Connections screening is free and open to the public. The film and program were also supported by RJ Reynolds High School journalism teacher Traci Latta and filmmaker Stanley Wright.

More information at NewsArts on the Pulitzer Center education program aimed at designing programs and curriculum that examine intersections between news and art. Contact [email protected] for more information about how to bring Pulitzer Center education programs to your school.