Rochester has a rich and diverse history of documentary filmmaking and video activism, much of which is currently being re-discovered in local archives.  Join us for an evening of screenings and discussions about Rochester’s radical documentary history hosted by the Rochester Documentary Filmmakers Group. Featuring excerpts of early video works from Portable Channel (1971-1986) and documentarian Nancy Rosin (Women Ministers, 1976), this event will include a panel discussion by local filmmakers who are collaborating to use new tools and carry on a the traditions of video activism in Rochester.

Panelists include: Nancy Rosin, Clara Riedlinger, Fred Armstrong, and Nicholle La Vann. This panel will be moderated by Carol White Llewellyn

The VSW Film Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by the ArtWorks program of the National Endowment for the Arts.
     

 Bios:

An early advocate of documentary storytelling as a form of activism, Nancy Rosin was involved in “Portable Channel” and “TV Dinner”, which received funding from the NY State Council on the Arts to provide video production and editing workshops to community groups whose voices and concerns were largely marginalized.

 It was through these groups that Nancy produced and participated in programs about sexism in high school, dramatic presentation of African-American prose and poetry, low income housing, history and culture of Iroquois Confederacy, reproductive rights, violence against women, police brutality/police review board, working class women artists, the history of Rochester Public Market and her film “Women Ministers”. 

Clara Riedlinger is a filmmaker and musician based in Rochester, NY. She received her BFA in Film and Video from the Maryland Institute College of Art and is currently an MFA Candidate in Film Production at RIT. She is active in several community filmmaking organizations, including Rochester Documentary Filmmakers, and works at RIT as an Academic Media Production Specialist. 

Fred Armstrong has worked on feature films, documentaries, industrials, commercials and music videos for over three decades. Two documentaries that Fred worked on as animation cameraman were nominated for Academy awards: “Mother Teresa” by Richard Attenborough, and “Seeing Red” by Julia Reichert.

In 1994 he produced and co-directed an award-winning documentary on the smallest city in America to build and abandon a subway, entitled The End of the Line: Rochester’s Subway. In 1989 he opened Animatus Studio, which continues to be Western New York’s only full service film and video animation studio.  

Nicholle La Vann received her M.F.A. from City College of New York.  She is currently working on a documentary (Tenacidad) that explores mental health and healing for rape survivors. Nicholle is a Filmmaker/photographer at Entertainment Industry and Creative director at Filmstress Filmz C, in addition to being a member and past presenter at Rochester Documentary Filmmakers Group. 

Carol White Llewellyn is the Marketing Director at RCTV, Rochester’s Community Media Center. In addition, Carol produces the three-time Telly Award-winning program Conversations with Creatives. Her “extracurricular” activities include producing documentaries, photography, writing articles and newsletters for clients, and ballroom dancing with her husband. She is the Editor of BeyondTheNest.com, an online guide to arts, culture and recreation. Carol is also one of the coordinators of the Rochester Documentary Group.