U of A Student Documentary Films to be Presented at Pryor Center Oct. 1

Photo by Bryan Pollard

David King, a homeless camper featured in "A Shelter First," walks to his campsite in South Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three documentary films about the plight of homeless people living in Northwest Arkansas, produced by graduate students at the University of Arkansas, will be presented at a free screening at 6:30 p.m.  Oct. 1 at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Oral and Visual History at 1 East Street on the Fayetteville square. The public is welcome.

The films are: “Homeless in Boomtown,” produced by Denzel Jenkins and Shane White; “A Shelter First,” produced by Bryan Pollard and Taylor Strickland; and “Out of the Woods,” produced by Paulina Sobczak and Andrew Epperson. All three tell compelling, and at times uncomfortable stories of the growing homeless crisis in Northwest Arkansas. 

The films were produced in graduate documentary film classes taught by Professors Larry Foley and Dale Carpenter in the U of A School of Journalism and Strategic Media.  Kevin Fitzpatrick, University Professor and director of the Community and Family Institute, served as an advisor to the student filmmakers.

The films will also air on UATV, Cox 214 and uatvonline.net at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 10, followed at 8 p.m. by a live panel discussion with local homeless service providers and the filmmakers on homelessness in Northwest Arkansas The programming will originate from the television studio at the new Sue Walk Burnett Center for Journalism and Student Media on the University of Arkansas campus. 

A two-hour special entitled “Don’t Look Away: Homelessness in Northwest Arkansas,” will air statewide on the Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN), 6-8 p.m. Oct. 16.