When Laura Doggett went to Jordan to film a documentary about Syrian refugees from her perspective, she decided to put the cameras into the hands of those directly affected.
“There were lots of stories on the refugee situation, but none of them were really from the refugees themselves,” Doggett said.
The Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St., will show a compilation of short films made by Syrian refugees in Jordan, titled Another Kind of Girl Collective, Thursday at 7 p.m. Doggett will be at the screening and will answer questions after the event.
Doggett conducted two separate workshops in Jordan in which she provided direction to teenage girls on how to take pictures and film their lives.
“What we did in the workshop space was to get them thinking creatively outside of the box and loosen them up a little so that they would be able to ... go and film themselves and ... explore different ways of expressing whatever they wanted to express,” Doggett said.
While Doggett helped the girls think creatively, she said all of the filming took place outside of the workshop space.
“It was incredible to watch the transformation happen with each girl,” she said. “Each one was so beautiful and I could sit here and talk about each girl all day.”
Doggett said the feedback she has received from the audience has been positive and that the film was not what viewers were expecting. Those who have seen the films have gone into the screening with a preconceived notion that they were going to be tragic, she added.
“People … used to ask me, ‘What are (the girls) like?’” Doggett said. “And I would say, ‘They’re teenage girls.’ They like to put makeup on. They giggle when boys walk by.”
Reghan Rosengarten, a sophomore studying communication science and disorders, said she thought the basis of the film sounded interesting.
“Seeing (people live as refugees) firsthand can impact your emotions more because you realize that an actual person is going through it,” Rosengarten said.
Alena Klimas, the vice president of the International Student Union, said it is important to see what the refugees value and what goes on in their everyday lives.
“I think there is so much negative media in politics right now surrounding refugees, so I think it can really open people’s eyes to what it’s like to be a refugee,” Klimas, a senior studying political science and global studies, said.
Klimas said the premise of the film is “very empowering” for the lives of the refugees.
“The films that they made are really different than anything else that you’ll see coming out of the refugee situation. They’re just like a very fresh, direct and genuine films that are very much from each individual girl,” Doggett said. “It’s just a different perspective.”
