Recording Film History
As the 50th anniversary of the celebrated collaboration of the NFB and Memorial
approaches, a team is making a documentary film about the university's
engagement with rural development. History Department member Jeff Webb is
working with Roger Bill and Derek Norman interviewing men and women who were
involved with the "Fogo Process." In the summer of 1967 a series of films were
made in Fogo which enabled people to give voice to their concerns and their
hopes. These films were shown to others on Fogo, and to politicians in St
John's. The reactions of those in St John's were then filmed and screened in
Fogo. This creative process of social media interaction helped revitalize the
communities during a difficult time in their history.
These economic development techniques developed by Memorial's Extension Service
were exported to the world, but it is a chapter of our history that's fading
from Memory. This documentary film, supported by ISER and the JR Smallwood
Foundation, is aimed at change that. The photograph shows the cameraman fitting
former MUN extension leader George Lee with a lapel mic.
To see the Fogo films at the NFB site, you can click here for a playlist.