Jenn Lilly, Ph.D., and Rose M. Perez, Ph.D., both of the Graduate School of Social Service, have dedicated large parts of their careers to studying the emotional and psychological complexity of Latin American communities. Their findings inspired their respective film projects: one highlighting the unique grief of Cuban Americans who’ve left behind their homeland, and the other exploring the mental health challenges faced by many young Latinas. 

Longing for a Lost Homeland

Perez’s film, Cuba es Mí Patria: The Homeland I Keep Inside, explores the experiences of the Cuban diaspora through the framework of “ambiguous loss,” a theory she’s researched extensively. Unlike other forms of grief, ambiguous loss can lack closure and keep the “lost object” psychologically present indefinitely. 

According to Perez, the experiences of the film’s interviewees who left Cuba after the 1959 revolution exemplify this phenomenon. Like a ghosted lover or the parents of a missing child, many Cuban Americans live with unanswered questions that can make letting go impossible, like: Will I ever see my relatives again? Will Cuba’s political and economic situation ever improve? And, will I ever be able to return? 

The conversations were often emotional, especially the interview Perez’s colleague conducted with her father. Perez and her family left Cuba in 1971. “He was so teary throughout the interview that it was really hard to edit his piece,” she said. 

The film appeared in several national and international festivals and won the Best Original Story award at the Touchstone Independent Film Festival in July. Locally, the next screening will be at the AMT Film Festival in Hell’s Kitchen Nov. 8-10. 

Perez says Cuba es Mí Patria is an excellent tool for educators, and will be relatable to anyone from an immigrant background. She hopes viewers will walk away with a “greater appreciation for the hidden trauma people don’t know we carry.”

Speaking Up about Latina Mental Health

In the short film Nuestro Apoyo (Our Support), which Lilly wrote with a group of young Latina collaborators, the drama on screen reflects a culture of silence around mental health issues in many Latin American families. With insights taken from Lilly’s academic research on Latina mental health, the short film depicts a young, first-generation woman’s struggle to bridge a generational and cultural divide with her parents and discuss her thoughts and feelings. 

To create the script, Lilly brought together a group of five young Latina writing partners — all Fordham students or alumni — and drew inspiration from their personal experiences. 

“One of my biggest takeaways was that this new generation is very aware of mental health and interested in preventive behaviors, but they’re encountering some difficulty in reconciling that with their families or their cultural views, which are often about keeping things within the family and not discussing things that could bring stigma,” said Lilly. 

Post-production work on the film wrapped in late September. Lilly plans to submit Nuestro Apoyo to some film festivals and then seek a distributor. Whatever happens next, she already experienced a moment of victory watching the film over Zoom with the five young writers. 

“It was really fun to see their reactions, especially when their names appear in the credits,” she said. “We all felt very emotional by the end. It was maybe the highlight of my career.”

This year’s batch of student films was among the strongest yet, said James Jennewein, a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media Studies who runs the film and television undergraduate program.

“Over 40 original films were submitted, and there were so many high-quality stories being told, that this year it was especially hard to pick the 10 final winners,” he said. “The students never cease to inspire and amaze me with the level of artistry and storytelling skills they display.”

Fordham Film Fest Winners

Best In Festival: Ballet de la Poubelle by Honorah Brozio, a first-year student studying English with a minor in history

“I depicted a robot who feels left out of ballet and the robot represents every young dancer who feels like they aren’t good enough. Or any dancer who feels their body isn’t right for ballet, or their skin color isn’t right. I mostly wanted to highlight the feelings of a beginner dancer and the strength they have to have to keep going when it’s hard. Ballet is getting much better in terms of being inclusive but there’s a long history of discrimination. I have been dancing since I was very young. So this film was really a love letter to ballet while also acknowledging the struggles and exclusion many dancers experience.”

Best Cinematography: Jefa by Sebastian Giugovaz, a junior majoring in visual arts with a double minor in marketing and film and television

“Jefa was actually the final project for my Visual Thinking class. We were assigned to create a museum gallery with works from artists all over the world, representing a theme or concept of our choice. The short was named and inspired by a painting by Argentinian artist Xul Solar, which is named Jefa. It depicts a smirking cat-like figure made of geometric shapes and the word “Jefa”, (meaning boss or patroness) on its body. Whether it be anxiety, fear, or sadness, I wanted to make a piece that makes people feel. The idea behind my short is that sometimes, certain ideas or influences consume us and end up becoming ‘bosses’ of us.”

Best Editing: The Mistake by Matthias Lai, a junior majoring in journalism and digital design

“The film was inspired by my personal experience working with a Super 8 camera and having a lot of trouble getting the exposure and settings right, and having to rework it into something new. The entire film was shot and edited by me, so setting the camera up to frame and focus correctly was a challenge sometimes. The scene on the subway was one where I felt really awkward putting a camera on a tripod and filming myself in a subway car with other people, but I was able to overcome that anxiety and the shot turned out great, so I’m definitely glad I did. The biggest thing I want people to take away is that perfection isn’t as important as resilience, and it is important to lean on your friends and loved ones when you need help working through a crisis. I want to give my appreciation to everyone who helped me with the making of The Mistake, especially my mom, to whom the film is dedicated.”

Hearing from Alumni in Film and TV

STORY 2024 was hosted by Fordham’s New York Film and Television Alliance, a student-run organization that connects students to film and TV professionals to campus to give students real-world career insights.

The March 2 conference, which was overseen by Jennewein and Heidi C. Bordogna, an advanced lecturer in communications and media studies, also featured a panel of successful alumni who have gone into careers in the industry.

“I wouldn’t be on the career path I am if it weren’t for my teachers at Fordham,” said Lyra Tan, FCLC ’20, who now works as a TV literary coordinator at the Gersh Agency in Los Angeles. She spoke alongside fellow alumni Desiree Ewing, FCLC ’18, director of development at Goodbye Pictures, and Kayla Otero, FCLC ’21, drama development coordinator at CBS.

“It’s really great to have that Fordham community out here in LA,” Tan said of her ongoing professional relationships with Ewing and Otero. “We’re sort of joined together for life that way.”

A recent presentation at Fordham’s cybersecurity conference last month helped illustrate why.

“When I asked the CEO of a major movie company recently, ‘What’s the craziest thing you can imagine will happen in the next two to three years?’ he said, ‘We will have a full cinematic feature starring zero actors, zero cinematography, zero lighting, and zero set design,” said Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing director of Lux Capital at a keynote speech on Jan. 10.

“It will all be generated.”

As an example, Wolfe, whose firm invests in new technologies, screened a fan-made movie trailer that used AI to imagine what Star Wars would look like if it had been directed by Wes Anderson.

A Threat to Storytelling

James Jennewein, a senior lecturer in Fordham’s Department of Communication and Media Studies whose film-producing credits include Major League II, Getting Even with Dad, and Stay Tuned, said the prospect of AI-powered screenwriting is deeply concerning.

He called storytelling “soul nourishment” that teaches us what it means to be human.

“We’re still watching films and reading books from people who died centuries ago, and there’s something magical about an artist digging into their soul to find some kind of truth or find a unique way to express an old truth, to represent it to the culture, and I don’t think that AI is going to help make that happen more,” he said.

In many ways, AI has already infiltrated movies and TV; major crowd scenes in the show Ted Lasso were created using AI tools, for example. This summer, the directors of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny used AI to render the nearly 80-year-old Harrison Ford to look like he was in his 20s.

The ability to use fewer actors in a crowd scene is obviously concerning to actors, but Jennewein said the strike was about more than just saving jobs–it’s about protecting creativity.

“We don’t want AI to create the illusion that something is original when it really is just a mashup of things that have been created before,” he said.

“Flesh-and-Blood” Films Coexisting with AI

Paul Levinson, Ph.D., a professor of communications, saw first-hand what AI can do to his own image and voice. A 2010 interview he did was recently altered by the journalist who conducted it to appear as if Levinson was speaking in Hindi.  But he is less concerned about AI taking over the industry.

He noted that when The Birth of a Nation was first screened in 1915, it was predicted that it would kill off the live theater.

Levinson predicted that in the future, the majority of what we watch will be AI-generated, but there will still be films that are made with live human actors. Just as theater co-exists with live movies, traditional movies will co-exist with AI content.

“I think we are going eventually to evolve into a situation where people aren’t going to care that much about whether or not it’s an AI-generated image or a real person,” he said.

Levinson acknowledged that AI could inflict real harm on the livelihood of actors and screenwriters, but said an equally important concern is whether those who work with AI tools get the credit they deserve.

“I’m sure people are going to think I’m out of my mind, but I don’t see a difference, ultimately, between a director who is directing actors in person and somebody who understands a sophisticated AI program well enough to be able to put together a feature-length movie,” he said.

“What could ultimately happen as AI-made films become more popular, is that films that are made with real flesh-and-blood actors will advertise themselves as such, and they’ll try to do things that maybe AI can’t quite yet do, just to push the envelope.”

“I feel myself when I cook,” Borelli said. “This is my space, this is my world, and I’m confident in what I do … It’s always been a place where I’m able to show who I am and why I am.”