Lots has been happening for NIRV filmmakers and Community Supported Film staff. Here’s the latest:
CONGRATULATIONS!
Sayed Hashimi was recently appointed as a media officer for the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, DC.Sayed worked for many years as a journalist and translator with the NATO Media Group all over Afghanistan. Sayed has a degree in literature and had been assisting his fellow Afghans and immigrants from other countries as a case worker for the New American Center in Lynn. We will miss his cheerful nature and astute knowledge of media communication, but know he will be a great asset to the embassy and their relations with America.
This past week we had two graduations at the University of Massachusetts/Boston! Abdirahman Abdi achieved his Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and Business, and Katsy Rivera-Kientz achieved her Master of Science from the Transnational, Cultural and Community Studies program. We are so proud of both of them and amazed at how hard they have worked throughout the training and beyond while continuing their studies.
Katsy also just recently got accepted into the PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She plans to focus her continued studies on the Puerto Rican diaspora in the Sociology program.
As many of you recall, Qin Li spent the winter at the University of California, Berkeley as a visiting researcher. We are happy to have her back in Boston and loved seeing her husband and two young boys at the Screen & Discuss event at the MFA. Qin is now applying for another visiting researcher position to expand further on “Indian American Women’s Political Participation” – building off the experiences she explored in her NIRV Film Campaign for a New American. We are thrilled that she wants to research these dynamics further and we wish her luck!
Not to be outdone, Mohammad Arifuzzaman recently got his driver’s license and a car. This is a huge milestone for any American, but especially for a new immigrant with young children to ferry everywhere. Welcome to the insane world of Boston driving dear Mohammad. Be careful out there!
AROUND THE OFFICE
On the office front, we have agonizingly mixed feelings about this next piece of news. Samantha Corsini has accepted a full-time position with Verse Video working on Harvard education videos and Season 2 of Poetry in America. Samantha came to Community Supported Film fresh from her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film/Video. We’ve been lucky to have her as long as we have and are sad to see her go, but this is a tremendous opportunity for her and we know this is the beginning of a long and successful career for her.
The good news is that Katie Bradshaw stepped up to the plate to help out as a program assistant this summer. She is a sophomore at UMass/Amherst, studying history and pre-med. She doesn’t have a background in film, but her administrative skills have been top notch, she’s devoted to the CSFilm/NIRV mission, and we are so grateful to have her on the team. Many of you will have met her at the Screen & Discuss event at the MFA.
For the few of you that don’t yet know, Sarah Chapple-Sokol, who had been working with us since November to help out with Public Engagement planning while Caryn was on leave for family matters, found a great position at the end of March. She will be working directly with refugees through programs of Jewish Vocational Services. We are so grateful for the contributions she’s made to CSFilm, but we know her heart is in direct service. We are happy for her, knowing that she will be making a tangible difference in the lives of refugees.
The good news is that Caryn Anderson has returned from leave and is back contributing her skills to CSFilm. Many of you saw her at the Screen & Discuss event at the MFA. Caryn will be working intermittently in Boston and remotely, but in our virtual world we’ve discovered that she’s just as efficient remotely as in person at organizing, getting stuff done, and bossing folks around (just kidding… sort of).
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