DFP Students Film in India, Pakistan, Zambia and Venice

Photo taken in Southern India by Kim Dryden

MFA students and Richter Summer Scholars Kim Dryden and Sana Haq will travel to India and Pakistan this summer to pursue individual film projects. Dryden and Haq were recently awarded Richter Summer Scholarships, which offer financial support to independent study projects requiring significant travel.

Dryden is currently in India filming the experiences of a group of undergraduate students led by communications professor Dr. Ananda Mitra on a month-long exploration of India. She will produce a short film that will not only highlight one of Wake’s enriching study abroad programs, but also the personal growth of the students and the importance of cultural immersion as a tool for learning about and ultimately understanding other peoples. The Museum of Anthropology will host a screening of the completed film in October of 2012.

Haq will travel to her home country of Pakistan later this summer to begin production on a film that looks at the issue of terrorism and its impact on Pakistan’s society and citizenry. Haq notes, that 35,000 civilians have died since 2001 as victims of terrorism and 3,000 soldiers have died in active combat with terrorists. While much of Western media focus on Pakistan’s inadequacy in fighting terrorists, she hopes this film will bring attention to the other side of the story. The story of Pakistan’s suffering and its people’s resolve to keep fighting.

Other DFP students traveling abroad to film projects include MFA students Sam Smartt (’13) and Chris Zaluski (’13). Smartt recently contributed a guest column to Wake Forest Magazine reflecting on his experience filming a choir trip to Zambia.

Zaluski traveled to Venice, Italy and Vienna, Austria this past July to shoot a promotional video about the Wake Forest Law School’s study abroad programs in those locations.