On Dec. 11, as part of the Levy Lecture Series, Ava Thompson Greenwell shared an excerpt from her first film with an eager audience at the Levy Senior Center.
Dr. Greenwell began working on this project in 2016. She has long been interested in South Africa, traveling there at least once a year for her work with journalism students who do immersive reporting projects in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Her research on this project uncovers the various Chicago organizations involved in the anti-apartheid movement from 1980-1994. Dr. Greenwell has already conducted more than 20 interviews on the topic, including some in South Africa.
In addition to individual recollections on various points of view and archival footage, Dr. Greenwell obtained video of Nelson Mandela’s 1993 speech to Chicago’s labor community. Eventually she had enough information to outline a first draft and start editing the filmed interviews and research together. That first draft, or rough cut in cinematography parlance, was shown to the Levy Lecture audience.
Read the full article on Dr. Greenwell's lecture, written by LSCF board member Wendi Kromash, at the Evanston RoundTable.