PROPOSAL TYPE
Roundtable
SEEKING
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
RELATED TOPICS
- Advocacy
- Memory
- Public Engagement
ABSTRACT
This session explores the medium of documentary filmmaking as public history practice by examining topics of community collaboration, shared authority, and institutional tension. It will do so through the evaluation of the production of Displaced Roots, a 30-minute documentary film chronicling the history of the Auraria neighborhood displaced by the construction of a tri-college university campus in the heart of downtown Denver during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This session welcomes additional collaborators working in documentary or media-based public history.
DESCRIPTION
This session examines documentary filmmaking as a method of public history through Displaced Roots, a 30-minute film documenting the history and ongoing activism of displaced Aurarians in Denver, Colorado. Rather than presenting film as a finished product, this presentation explores the process of translating archival research, oral histories, and community collaboration into a narrative that is both historically rigorous and publicly engaged.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly:
Sophia Imperioli, University of Colorado Denver, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be sent by June 5, 2026. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.