DOCUMENTARY STUDIES AND PRODUCTION
Noor Abu Rabie
Senior, journalism and cinema studies, SOJC Honors student
International Cultural Service Program representative, Oxford Human Rights Fellow
Home country: Palestine
When Noor Abu Rabie first joined the SOJC as an international student from Palestine, she knew she wanted to spend her career amplifying unheard voices through storytelling. But it wasn’t until she took a documentary production class that she realized she could use a visual medium to do it.
“It humanizes people when you see how they react, how they talk, where they live, and who they are,” she said. “It adds an emotional element that connects the viewer with these people. I realized that’s what I want to do.”
It’s not enough to simply document people’s problems, however. Abu Rabie wants to solve them. By combining her cinema studies major with documentary production and solutions journalism, she aims to spur audiences to action. For her honors thesis documentary, she hopes to tell a story about human rights and social justice.
With international award-winning filmmakers as professors and documentary programs like the SOJC’s NW Stories at her fingertips, Abu Rabie has developed all the practical skills she needs to launch her filmmaking career.
“It basically gave me the keys for my future startup,” she said.
In the flexible, Portland-based Multimedia Journalism Master’s program, students get hands-on experience in visual, explanatory, and narrative storytelling and build the journalistic and technical skills to stand out in the field, from flying drones and shooting 360-degree footage to editing compelling audio and video. Graduates of the program regularly land jobs at well-known companies and nonprofits, from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Oregon Public Broadcasting to Blue Chalk Media, Muse Storytelling, and Intel.
Meet the Documentary Faculty
Mitchell Block
Gabriela Martínez ’05
Ed Madison ’12
Jake Swantko ’11
Oscar-winning director of photography, Icarus
Producer, The Dissident
2021 Eric Allen Outstanding Young Alum