Kathryn Brodie ’22 is a filmmaker with an interest in creative storytelling and explanatory journalism. She began her journey documenting dance and the arts in her rural community, creating dance films and promotional videos for nonprofits. While studying at Skidmore, she has worked for the Dance Department as a cinematographer and editor for various classes and professors. Her documentary work has increased in college and has led her to explore avenues in explanatory journalism and podcasts. She views documentary as a means for activism and sharing unique stories. Additionally, she enjoys experimenting with stop motion, using paper and clay to help bring her storytelling to life.
Lily deButts ‘21 is a History major and Asian Studies minor from New York City. Storytelling has had great importance to her since she was a child and made her older sister tell her stories so she could stay up past her bedtime. She believes the line between history and storytelling is incredibly blurry, and has striven to prove that in her studies through oral histories, photography, and creative non-fiction.
Malchijah Hoskins’22 is from Jersey City, New Jersey, and is a current Junior majoring in Sociology and minoring in Intergroup Relations & Media and Film Studies. Malchijah is the host of the student social justice collective and radio show Pass the Mic. He also is V.P for Inclusion and Outreach in Student Government and apart of the Tang Student Advisory Council. From a young age Malchijah was drawn to the power of language and truth-telling. He is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to research and interviewing, and sees both as vital tools for radical imagination. Topics that speak to him include Blackness, beauty, rituals, love and trauma. Intellectually he is influenced by black feminist thinkers bell hooks and Audre Lorde and filmmaker Marlon Riggs. Malchijah is interested in exploring how storytelling, embodied methods, and dialogue are fundamental in liberatory practices.
Mira Kauffman-Rosengarten ’22 is a Social Work major and Media and Film Studies minor interested in the role that storytelling plays in healing and growth on both micro and macro levels. Her interest in storytelling stemmed from her love for the Moth podcast in early high school and grew as she began to see its importance on a systemic level. This past summer she worked with Horizons, a community-centered summer program that works with children in under-resourced communities. She saw the importance of Storytime in that context and was reminded of the power that stories have on children and social justice work.
Claire Maske‘21 is an aspiring documentarian currently pursuing a self-determined major in Documentary Studies and a minor in Studio Art. She has experience with documentary filmmaking and audio, and is currently learning and exploring animation as a documentary medium. She is interested in the intersections between fine arts, storytelling, and social issues and is excited to keep investigating these connections over the summer and beyond.
Elijah McKee ’21 is a Music and Anthropology double major and a Media and Film Studies minor. He uses audio, film, and text as storytelling tools for work that encompasses moments of transition, materiality, religion, healthcare, and domestic space. He is also a collaborator on a local oral narrative heritage project in Saratoga Springs, NY. Through his work, he hopes to fulfill the unifying, educational, and revolutionary potential of documentary.
Dorree Ndooki ‘24 is a rising junior and political science major. She is passionate about social justice and empowering young women through community activism. Her work is focused on representing the intersectionality between race and gender. Inspired by her love for storytelling, she aims to use film as a tool to uplift the voices and experiences of minority communities.
Jose Nunez ’23 is a double major in International Affairs and Economics. For the past semester, I have been interning in the Tang Museum as a Tang Guide, where I’ve had the opportunity to learn many of the behind-the-scenes processes that go into making a museum successful. With this experience, I’ve had a growing appreciation for museums and have really enjoyed the process of learning about different forms of art not only present in the Tangs Collection, but in collections around the world. A goal of mine is to always return home (Yonkers) to share my experiences with my fellow youth who may be thinking of pursuing higher education and motivating them to take that big leap. As well as teaching people about how important and interesting learning can be, if we allow ourselves to be exposed to everything this world has to offer. If I had to leave a quote here I would say, “Lend a hand out to those who will come after you, as those who came before you did for you, even if you never met them.”
Sophie Wolfman ’22 is an English major concentrating in non-fiction creative writing, and a Media and Film Studies minor. She is also an experienced photographer and graphic designer. Working in Adobe platforms such as InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, Sophie’s passion for visual design has grown significantly over the past couple of years. Although her artistic background is within the realm of writing and digital art, Sophie is also passionate about filmmaking and videography. She hopes to explore film further at the Storytellers’ Institute in order to learn and build off of her existing passion for storytelling. Beyond her creative interests, Sophie also loves traveling and trying new things! Her favorite travel experience was in her senior year of high school when she shadowed students in Vrindavan, India with six peers. To her, the beauty in traveling is being able to hear others’ stories and step into their shoes. Sophie believes that storytelling is valuable because not only can it move people, it can also foster empathy and kindness. Everyone has a unique story that deserves to be shared and when you listen to that story, you have the chance to grow and become a better person.
Senior Skidmore Fellow
Sanjna Selva ’21 is a writer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and audio producer currently based out of New York. Her work and passions have been strongly informed by issues of identity, migration, belonging and childhood. Sanjna’s work has allowed her to live in Singapore, Nepal, New York, New Orleans, Tunisia, London and most recently, Malaysia. With roots in documentary photography, she branched into documentary filmmaking and production in 2017 and later, managed the social activism podcast and radio show Pass The Mic. Sanjna has worked in the documentary film industry producing, editing, in social media marketing and most recently, as associate producer on award-winning filmmaker Jasmin Lopez’s film Silent Beauty. Her photography and film have been featured and recognized by the International Center of Photography (ICP), MediaStorm, Himalayan Geographic, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Project of Saratoga Springs, the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative and the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. She was a student fellow at the 2019 Skidmore Storytellers’ Institute and is a proud member of the Brown Girls Doc Mafia and D-Word film collectives. Sanjna is the current editor-in-chief of Skidmore News and will graduate from Skidmore College in 2021 with a B.A. in International Affairs and Documentary Film.
Skidmore Staff Fellow
Marta Brunner has been Skidmore’s college librarian since 2015. An active supporter of open access in higher education, she is incoming chair of the oversight committee for Lever Press and serves on the library advisory group for JSTOR. She came to Skidmore from UCLA where she served as interim director of teaching and learning services and head of Powell Library, and before that, as subject librarian and head of Collections, Research, and Instructional Services at the Charles E. Young Research Library. She joined UCLA Library in 2006 as a Council on Library and Information Resources Postdoctoral Fellow, after working as a library assistant at the University of Chicago. Marta obtained her doctoral degree from the History of Consciousness Program at UC Santa Cruz. She also holds a master of english (rhetoric and composition) from the University of Arizona and a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College. Her research interests include academic library leadership, open access publishing and outreach, and social movement history.
