March 15, 2023 鈥擜 Ventura filmmaker outraged by the Russian war campaign traveled to Ukraine to film the gritty and heartbreaking human toll of the war, as well as the power of hope. Filmmaker Rick Ray will share 鈥淥ur Stories Matter: Challenges and Visions of Hope from the People of Ukraine鈥� Thursday, March 16 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Petit Salon on the CSU Channel Islands (黑料正能量) campus.
Later that day, Emmy award-winning Los Angeles filmmaker Matthew Crotty will be the keynote speaker at a presentation called 鈥淏roadcasting the Local: Producing and Preserving Community-Based Histories" from 4 to 6 p.m. in Room 3550 in Del Norte Hall.
The two presentations from filmmakers are completely separate. The Ukrainian film and panel discussion afterward is presented by the Center for Multicultural Engagement and the mission-based centers. The presentation on the importance of collecting stories from our communities is part of a series created by Assistant Professors of History Jacqueline Reynoso and Hanni Jalil.
Both presentations are open to the public.
Ray filmed 鈥淥ur Stories Matter鈥� after connecting with the Ukrainian army and arranging to travel by plane to Warsaw, then by train and on foot across the Ukrainian border to find the ordinary people who are determined to live their lives while those lives are torn apart by Russian attacks.
鈥淚 took a nine-hour train ride from Lviv to Kyiv,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淚 got an apartment in the heart of the downtown area overlooking Zelenskyy鈥檚 palace. I just walked out and began to wander with my camera. I found a driver and a guide translator. We would just go to where people were shell-shocked and sifting through the rubble and I would talk to them.鈥�
Ray met a 12-year-old girl who had a Russian rocket burst through the roof and settle under the crib of her sister鈥檚 baby.
鈥淚t was a red-hot rocket, but did not explode,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淭his young girl was cooped up in her home with all of this kind of trauma and looting and rapes going on around her, and she coped by drawing. You look on her walls and there are all of these penciled pieces of artwork that are museum quality.鈥�
Despite the horror, Ray learned that love found a way to bloom when a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman fell in love with a handsome Ukrainian soldier she met through Instagram.
鈥淗e went to serve in Mariupol and became a refugee in the steelworks where thousands of soldiers were holed up,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淭he soldier and the young woman communicated with a book of poems with their letters tucked in between the pages. The book was smuggled in and out of the steelworks.鈥�
Ray鈥檚 film will detail what happened after the soldier was taken prisoner by the Russian army, and whether the two were able to eventually reunite. He will also introduce the audience to many others, including a pair of monks whose monastery was under siege by the Russians, who were determined to starve them out, but the monks鈥� faith sustained them.
Professor of Psychology Christy Teranishi-Martinez coordinated this event after learning about Ray鈥檚 film through a friend. She thought the film would be an ideal fit for her Adolescent Development and Positive Psychological Development classes, focused on exploring on ways adolescents and emerging adults develop a growth mindset and resiliency despite challenges and barriers they encounter.
鈥淲e鈥檙e focusing on how individuals thrive and flourish through adversity while still forging their identities and while protecting their family members,鈥� Teranishi-Martinez said. 鈥淩ick incorporates true stories of Ukrainian adolescents and emerging adults developing core strengths, like empathy, altruism and prosocial skills, which help them persevere, form positive relationships, and remain optimistic about their future despite the chaos of war around them.鈥�
Ray was able to negotiate a trip to film in Ukraine because of his 30-plus years traveling the world documenting the human side of pivotal global events. It was a decision he made after graduating from UC Santa Barbara and serving as a chauffeur for the blunt and irascible actor Jack Palance, who encouraged him to follow his dream as a documentarian.
鈥淗e would nag me from the back of the limo and say, 鈥楪o get a life so you can stop being a crappy assistant to me,鈥欌�� Ray said. 鈥淪o, one day, I just went in and quit my chauffeur job, bought a backpack and a ticket around the world. I had $3,000 in my pocket and was 25 years old. It became a life of traveling and documenting stories around the world.鈥�
Also on Thursday, from 4 to 6 p.m., Emmy award-winning Los Angeles filmmaker Matthew Crotty will be the keynote speaker at a presentation called 鈥淏roadcasting the Local: Producing and Preserving Community-Based Histories" in Del Norte Hall Room 3550.
This presentation discusses the importance of collecting stories from our communities, which is part of a series created by Assistant Professors of History Jacqueline Reynoso and Hanni Jalil.
The afternoon presentation on community histories captured through broadcast media is closer to home. Reynoso and Jalil chose Crotty as keynote speaker because of his experience as Director of Production for KCET's original programs, including Artbound, Artbound Presents Studio A, Border Blaster, SoCal Connected, Lost L.A., Global Perspectives, and City Walk.
The goal, said Reynoso and Jalil, is to underscore the importance of collecting all histories, as the story of so many groups go untold.
鈥淭here are histories that don鈥檛 get told in conventional ways, and because of this, they are often overlooked,鈥� Reynoso said. 鈥淥ne example is an area researched by one of our colleagues, Assistant Professor of History Julia Ornelas-Higdon, who is looking into the immigrant laborers who helped produce wine in California such as people from Mexican or Asian descent.鈥�
鈥淎nother example is that so often we associated Oxnard with Mexican American workers and their histories, but another voice in those conversations should be the Japanese Americans and the alliances that formed between both groups,鈥� Jalil said. 鈥淭he more we can highlight our ethnic diversity, the better we can capture a complete picture of our local history.鈥�
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