UAF journalism professor’s documentary film accepted in prestigious festival

Submitted by Charles Fedullo
Phone: (907) 474-7995
09/27/05

University of Alaska Fairbanks Journalism Professor Robert Prince’s documentary Making Choices: The Dutch Resistance during World War II has been accepted in the prestigious Northern Lights Documentary Film Festival. Prince will be attending the festival in Newburyport, Mass. Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.

"I am excited to see this story shown at such a well-known film festival,"? said Prince. "The response to this piece has been so positive."?

The documentary was Princes’ master’s thesis at Michigan State University and explores the wartime lives of four participants in the Dutch resistance during World War II. The hour-long production aired on West Michigan Public Broadcasting on May 5, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.

Soon after the broadcast Prince began submitting the documentary to film festivals and distributors. Within a few months he got word that it had been accepted into the Northern Lights festival.

A week after moving to Alaska to join the journalism department at UAF, International Historic Films told him they wanted to sell the DVD in their catalog and the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) e-mailed him to say they wanted to make it available to their 94 member stations around the U.S.

"Producing this documentary was an extremely personal experience,"? Prince said. "I quietly slaved away at it for years and then, with great hope, put it out there for everyone to see."?

For more information on the festival visit http://www.northernlightsfilmfestival.com.

For more information call Robert Prince at (907) 474-6249 or e-mail him at ffrwp1@uaf.edu.