Posted in backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Cuba, journalism, news, photo journalism, video journalism, tagged Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign correspondent, International reporting, photography, video journalism courses on January 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »
HAVANA, Cuba, 2 January 2017 – Members of Cuba’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), or Revolutionary Armed Forces, participate in a march honoring their institution. In the background is the Monumento a José Martí, Cuba’s national hero.
Cuba’s armed forces are considered to be the most steadfast supporters of the system installed decades ago by the now-deceased Fidel Castro.
(Photo by Bill Gentile)
Posted in backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Cuba, journalism, photo journalism, photography, video journalism, tagged backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign correspondent, International journalism, International reporting, video journalism courses on January 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »
HAVANA, Cuba, 2 January 2017 – Thousands of Cubans march through the Plaza de la Revolucion during a parade honoring this nation’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), or Revolutionary Armed Forces.
On the building in the background is an outline of Che Guevara, the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, military theorist and close ally of deceased Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
(Photo by Bill Gentile)
Posted in backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), Cuba, foreign correspondancy, photo journalism, photography, video journalism, tagged backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign correspondent, International journalism, International reporting, video journalism courses on January 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »
HAVANA, Cuba, 2 January 2017 – Three Cuban women walk arm-in-arm toward the Plaza de la Revolucion to witness a parade honoring this nation’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), or Revolutionary Armed Forces.
They will arrive at the Plaza de la Revolucion where the Monumento a José Martí, Cuba’s national hero, towers over the parade ground.
This was a quiet, even somber event. It took place only weeks after the death of Fidel Castro, who seized power here in 1959 and died in November 2016. Many Cubans still are processing the fact that Castro is gone.
Throughout this march, I sensed a respect for the fallen Cuban leader – even from Cubans who disagree with the system that he put into place. Many Cubans criticize the system in which they live. But my experience has been that few will directly criticize the man who created it.
I didn’t ask these women about all this. Perhaps I should have.
(Photo by Bill Gentile)
Posted in backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Cuba, foreign correspondancy, journalism, photo journalism, photography, video journalism, tagged backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign Correspondence at American University's School of Communication, Foreign correspondent, International reporting, video journalism courses on January 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
HAVANA, Cuba, 2 January 2017 – Cubans assemble along a main thoroughfare leading into the Plaza de la Revolucion to watch a parade honoring this nation’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), or Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Here, members of the Cuban Army gather just after dawn with civilians on one major highway leading to the event.
I had expected to see a show of Cuba’s military might. Tanks. An array of military vehicles. Heavy weaponry. In other words, a show of force. But I saw none of it. Perhaps this reflected a decision by Cuban authorities who did not want to provoke the incoming U.S. administration — or not.
That’s the way it is in Cuba.
(Photo by Bill Gentile)
Posted in American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Cuba, foreign correspondancy, journalism, photo journalism, video journalism, tagged backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign correspondent, International journalism on January 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
HAVANA, Cuba, 2 January 2017 – Cubans wait in early-morning light to witness a parade honoring this nation’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias, (FAR), or Revolutionary Armed Forces. In the background is the Plaza de la Revolucion.
My Cuban-American wife, Esther, and I visited her family on the island over the Christmas holidays
We did not expect to see significant changes as a result of Fidel Castro’s recent passing. And we didn’t. Not, at least, in the way the place operates.
Instead, I detected a lingering affection and respect for the Cuban leader – even from Cubans who chafe at the system that he built and that he left behind. To many, Fidel was like a failing grandfather with whose opinion they often differed. But many of these same Cubans also recognized that the old man was responsible for making them, and the island they live on, something more grand than they might have been without him.
I’m still unpacking, physically and otherwise, from the three-week trip. As I do so, I recall what one of my students told me after spending four months with me in Cuba, taking one of my photojournalism classes.
“Nothing is black and white here,” she said. “Everything is shades of gray,” and deciphering the place is a formidable task.
I’ll be posting more pictures as I continue to unpack.
(Photo by Bill Gentile)
Posted in American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Uncategorized, video journalism, tagged American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, International journalism on January 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »
WASHINGTON, DC, 15 November 2016 — American University is featuring an article about my “Backpack Documentary en Español” class, the first-ever Spanish-language class to be taught in the School of Communication.
To read the article (in English), click HERE.
And below is a bit of information from my syllabus:
El primer curso impartido en español en la Escuela de Comunicación, Documental de Mochila en Español es un curso interdisciplinario impartido íntegramente en español para los estudiantes con alto dominio de la lengua. La clase es apropiada para los estudiantes de grado o de posgrado, así como los profesionales, que quieren aprender a producir, por ellos mismos, cortometrajes documentales para la televisión o Internet.
Este curso es el modelo de mi propia experiencia como periodista visual en el campo desde 1977, cuando fui a trabajar a Noticias de México como reportero / fotógrafo / editor. Un año más tarde estaba trabajando como corresponsal / editor / reportero gráfico en el United Press International (UPI). En 1985 cuando vivía en Nicaragua firmé en la revista Newsweek como fotógrafo Contrato para América Latina y el Caribe. En 1995 fui a trabajar con Vídeo News International (VNI), un audaz experimento puesto en marcha a mediados de 1990 y con sede en Filadelfia, Pensilvania. El fundador de VNI fue el primero en este país en entender que los avances en la tecnología digital podían revolucionar y democratizar el proceso de recopilación de noticias de televisión y la comunicación visual en general. Ahora, el Internet nos permite el acceso a los medios de distribución global.
Este curso se basa en la premisa de que un periodista de vídeo debidamente entrenado, solo o en un pequeño equipo de trabajo, puede contar historias con imágenes poderosas y palabras inteligentes, usando cámaras digitales de mano, de una manera más íntima, más inmediata, de comunicación más fluida de la se puede conseguir con un equipo de trabajo grande y de cámaras grandes al hombro — y por una fracción del costo. Las herramientas y las técnicas que se enseñan en este curso le ayudará a competir en el campo muy fértil y creciente que llamamos periodismo visual, o la comunicación visual.
El componente de “mochila” de esta metodología se refiere no sólo a la naturaleza compacta y la portabilidad de los equipos utilizados. También es una referencia a las aptitudes múltiples de sus practicantes. Durante este curso, usted aprenderá a utilizar algunos de los más modernos y sofisticados equipos disponibles. Y usted aprenderá las habilidades esenciales para la práctica efectiva del oficio.
Saludos,
Bill Gentile
(Photo by Jeff Watts)
Posted in American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), photo journalism, photography, video journalism, tagged american journalism, American University School of Communication, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondance, foreign correspondence, International journalism, International reporting, Journalism, video journalism courses on March 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »
WASHINGTON, DC, 5 March 2016 — Our film, “Afghan Dreams,” won the jury award for Best Documentary Short at the Las Cruces International Film Festival in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Posted in American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), foreign correspondancy, Guatemala gangs, journalism, photo journalism, photography, religion and violence, trends in foreign corespondency, video journalism, tagged American University, American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, International journalism, International reporting, video journalism courses on March 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »
WASHINGTON, DC, 2 March 2016 — Kara Andrade, one of two winners of the 2015 AU-Pulitzer Center Student International Reporting Fellowships, addresses students at an information session in the School of Communication’s Media Innovation Lab (MIL). In the second photo, Andrade is joined by (L to R) Kem Sawyer and Ann Peters, Contributing Editor, and Director of Development and Outreach, respectively, at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. You can find information about, and applications for, the 2016 fellowships HERE.
Photos by Bill Gentile.
Posted in American University School of Communication, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), journalism, photo journalism, video journalism, tagged American University, backpack video journalism, Bill Gentile, foreign correspondence, Foreign correspondent, International journalism, Journalism on February 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
WASHINGTON, DC, 23 February 2016 — Join us next week for information on how to apply for one of two Student International Reporting Fellowships!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged American University School of Communication, Bill Gentile, citizen journalism, foreign correspendents, foreign correspondence, Foreign Correspondence at American University's School of Communication on August 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »
An article by Reuters discusses how the recent killing of American journalist James Foley is a measure of how the business of war coverage has changed in recent years. See the entire story HERE.
Foreign Correspondence 