Members of Pace University’s award-winning student documentary team, PaceDocs, were featured on the Sunday Sanity version of Andrew Revkin’s Sustain What? podcast, about their recent film, Viola da Terra: Harmony of the Azores, the focus of the popular Producing the Documentary course, which is part of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace University’s highly regarded film program.
Revkin, who co-taught the course from 2010-2016, interviewed Co-producers and Media, Communications, and Visual Arts Professors Maria Luskay, EdD, and Lou Guarneri, MA, and three members of the student team, Samantha Buturla ’24 ’25, BA, English, Writing, and Rhetoric/MA, Communications and Digital Media, Katelyn Brennan ’25, BA, Communications, and Angie Starn ’24 ’25, BS, Digital Cinema and Filmmaking/MA, Communications and Digital Media, about various aspects of their filmmaking experiences.
Viola da Terra, which premiered both at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville and in Terceira, Portugal, was filmed over spring break on Portugal’s Azorean islands of São Miguel and Terceira, and explores the story of the Viola da Terra, a traditional 12–15 string instrument with deep roots in Azorean identity, music, and cultural preservation.
The Producing the Documentary course requires students to complete a full-length documentary within 14 weeks. During the process, students learn teamwork, problem-solving, research, and organization, along with technical skills such as lighting, sound, camera work, interviewing, and other real-life lessons necessary to complete a film.
For Thomas Scopino ’27, a master's student in Environmental Science and Policy at Pace University's Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, an internship with the New York Public Library offered an unexpected opportunity to explore how environmental policy, energy efficiency, and urban sustainability intersect across New York City.
Through Pace University’s unique relationship with the United Nations, students are taking their education beyond the classroom and onto the global stage, advocating for human rights, engaging with international leaders, and gaining firsthand experience in shaping conversations that can change the world.
How much freedom are we willing to sacrifice in the name of security? As facial recognition and AI-powered surveillance expand worldwide, Political Science Professor and Chair Amy Freedman, PhD, examines what the rise of digital monitoring in Southeast Asia reveals about democracy, individual rights, and the growing power of governments to watch and control their citizens.