Impact, USC Annenberg’s award-winning documentary series, held its spring edition March 28. They featured the work of three students highlighting stories from diverse communities in Los Angeles.
Junior journalism major, Ethan Galbraith, was one of the students selected to show his film. He was able to bring forth a story which he explains, needed to be told.
Galbraith’s documentary, “L.A storytellers,” chronicles two Indigenous L.A. based artists who use art to preserve and progress the stories of Native Americans.
Galbraith’s reasoning for choosing this topic was one that hits close to home.
“I’m Indigenous myself, and also not from here [L.A.]...,so when the documentary opportunity came about, I knew I wanted to do something with the community here, I just didn’t know how,” he said. “And after doing some research, I decided I wanted to do a story about art.”
Galbraith expressed his hopes that the documentary will inspire curiosity and clear the misconceptions of Indigenous people.
“They think we live the same lifestyle. We live on the reservations in the middle of nowhere, and you don’t see us, and we don’t see you, we’re kind of autonomous, and that we do our own thing. Don’t disturb us, We don’t disturb you,” Galbraith said. “Which is not the case whatsoever.”
Galbraith’s search for artists to tell the story ended when artists River Garza and Pamela Peters at UCLA’s American Indian Studies Center asked him to help tell their story. Garza, who is Tongva, explained his journey and how he tries to be a voice for the community. Peters, while not part of a local tribe, said she uses photographs to explain the history of Indigenous populations.
Galbraith said he is proud to be chosen to present, not because of the work he put in but for the audience to understand the plight of Indigenous people.
“To be selected for the screening was very special to me,” he said. “It wasn’t even about the validation of all the work that I put in, it was that they see the story that I want to tell as well… They see the value in the story that I’m telling, not just about the work…”
Galbraith said the rich culture of the Indigenous people is a story that needs to be told, and education remains at the forefront of that effort. While he acknowledges that there is still a lot of work to be done, he said he remains hopeful about the future.
“I feel like there’s been progress being made,” he said. “We’re not there yet but I think we’re trending in the right direction.”
In addition to Galbraith’s documentary, junior communications major Micah Chow focused on an adaptive climbing group who aims to bring in people with disabilities and other climbers together.
Being a climber himself for two years, he found an interest in the inclusivity of the activity, “you don’t have to be a certain way to climb.”
Chow also acknowledges how Black, brown and other marginalized communities aren’t represented as much in the sport and hopes their documentary can encourage others to explore climbing.
The final documentary by junior journalism major, Katelyn Do covers the older immigrant community. She focuses on two elder Vietnamese immigrants who were separated from family and their journey adjusting to the U.S. through “Hope,” a local community resource based organization.
Do recalls her grandma, who passed in 2021, going outside to do Tai Chi by herself, “I knew it was a big part of the elder experience,” which drew her to the topic.
The documentaries will be aired on Spectrum News 1.