New ETL film set to debut

On April 30, Extending the Link will be presenting their 18th annual documentary titled, “I Am Here, Where Are You?”, located in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater.

Following the premiere, there will be a reception held in Quad 264 for students to attend.

This documentary was filmed on the topic of rural healthcare, as it took place within Mokhotlong, Lesotho, a country land-locked within South Africa.

Extending the Link is a student-led documentary team under the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, located in Central Minnesota.

The team devises a documentary plan each year based on social issues or injustice in both international and local communities, especially issues that are paid less attention.

The overall mission that Extending the Link pushes to accomplish is educating viewers and students to give more attention to social matters taking place around the world, while encouraging them to take deliberate action steps in supporting local communities.

This documentary was made possible with the collaboration of the ETL members who traveled, which included CSB senior Kate Stearns, CSB senior Grace Fitzgibbons, CSB junior Sophia Thomas, CSB senior Ellie Rose Piette, SJU junior Jacob Hadjiyanis and SJU junior Gabe Evenocheck.

Along with them, they have had the help of fall semester co-director Zoey Coval, and a number of members on their team.

Stearns, a co-director for this documentary, shares the motto they follow within this program, which is “Think Globally, Act Locally,” as empowering local viewers to be involved in social justice is one of the main objectives of the team.

The topic for the documentary this year is access to rural healthcare.

The team traveled to Mokhotlong, Lesotho to gain a deeper perspective of the health system within these rural areas.

Throughout their travels, the team met with a variety of locals from health care providers to shepherds within the community.

They were able to share their life stories with the team and give first-hand insight into the issue of access in their healthcare system.

Through making these connections with the locals, Stearns said they were able to understand the urgency to address these issues and spread awareness.

“We are mindful that we are coming into their lives, homes, and country, so we strive to be ethical storytellers through our interviews and interactions,” Stearns said.

For the team, this was a new experience overall due to the change of scenery, learning new film techniques and navigating the environment during filming.

This included many landscape shots of the mountain ranges and road conditions that local citizens had to navigate in order to reach basic healthcare services.

There were also many opportunities for the travelers to speak with local citizens, village health care workers and nurses within the area, which provided them a deeper understanding of the issues from the eyes of those experiencing these issues first-hand.

With the relentless work of the team to put together this film, Evenocheck stated, “We traveled into villages, sat in on clinics, and interviewed the nurses, village health workers, community members, and patients who keep that work running”.

Extending the Link continues to bring these international and local issues to light with these annual films, as they encourage our CSB+SJU community to take initiatives to address local social issues.

“It was a lot of work, but one of the best things I’ve gotten to be part of,” Evenocheck said, “These aren’t stories that get much attention outside of Lesotho, and we’re looking forward to bringing them to a CSB+SJU audience at the premiere”.