The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

SIUC students recognized for documentaries

Even though only one documentary class is offered in SIUC's Radio and Television department, students have received numerous awards during the past 10 years for documentary work.

And again the awards spilled in this month with one student and one former student up for a regional Emmy and a former student landing an Angelus award.

Cory Byers, a graduate student in Radio and Television from Effingham, will find out next Saturday if his documentary, "Beacon of Hope: The Cross at the Crossroads," will win a regional Emmy in the student production category. Byers said he was not surprised the project was nominated because SIUC students have a history of producing award-worthy work.

"We have high quality work here," Byers said.

Byers, originally from Effingham, worked on the documentary with Brittany Dusk a 2004 SIUC graduate. Their project dealt with the history of a 198-foot cross that was erected in Effingham three years ago.

"Being from that town, everyone always asks us, 'What's the deal with that cross?'" Dusk said. "There were so many questions, we said, 'Why don't we use this as our documentary subject for class?'"

Hilla Medalia, a 2004 graduate in professional media practice, has also been recognized and highly publicized for her work at the University.

Medalia finished her thesis documentary project last September titled, "Daughters of Abraham." The film explores a human side of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict by detailing a 2002 incident involving a female, teenage suicide bomber and another teenager killed by the bomb.

The film has received national attention and most recently the outstanding documentary award from the 2004 Angelus Awards Student Film Festival.

With the award came a cash prize of $1,800, and the possibility the film will shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

"I worked hard to try to make it happen and make it good, but you never know," Medalia said. "I definitely didn't expect it to be that successful."

When Medalia, who was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and came to the United States in 1998 to attend SIUC, heard about the suicide bombing, she was immediately motivated to make it the subject of her project.

Safety concerns arose during the planning of the film. Medalia said Jan Thompson, who teaches the University's documentary class, was very encouraging.

"Some people said maybe I'm crazy for going to a refugee camp," Medalia said. "But Jan was very supportive from the beginning. She was like 'Wow, that's great if you can just pull it together.'"

Medalia did pull it together and her film has now been shown at festivals throughout the United States, including the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in July.

"It was a huge, huge, huge, festival," Medalia said. "There were like 2,000 people at my screening."

Thompson oversaw Medalia's project and was impressed by her determination during the filming process.

Thompson said she is impressed with Medalia's ability to overcome major obstacles during filming, including landing interviews with the two women's parents.

"It tells you something about Hilla and her tenacity and sensitivity to be able to do such a successful piece," Thompson said.

Thompson said even though SIUC's Radio and Television department is nationally known, the success of Medalia's film is a pleasant surprise.

"What makes it a fantastic story is it is a success story, but you would have never guessed that something like this would have come out of Southern Illinois," Thompson said.

 

 

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