UFCJC Student and Alumnus’ “A Seat at the Table” Documentary Named Best Civic Story at the Detroit Better Cities Film Festival

“A Seat at the Table,” a documentary directed and produced by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology (MPMT) senior Sophia Abolfathi and alumnus Robert Bailey, B.S. Telecommunication 2023, was named an official selection at the Better Cities Film Festival 2024 and received the honor of Best Civic Story. The festival ran from Sept. 19-22 in Detroit, Michigan.

The film explores how food, health and nutrition divide two sides of the city of Gainesville, Florida, and how the movement to bring Black culture, history and knowledge back to the table is healing the community. The film, produced in MPMT Senior Lecturer Houston Wells’ Documentary Production course in fall 2023, was also named an official selection at the 2024 Roxbury International Film Festival in Boston and the 2024 Full Bloom Film Festival in Statesville, North Carolina. It won an Award of Excellence for Student Short-Form Documentary at the 2024 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts competition and was an official selection at the University of Florida’s first Orange and Blue Film Festival.

The Better Cities Film Festival, originally founded as the New Urbanism Festival in 2013, collects curates and presents the best films on the theme of making better cities, towns and neighborhoods.

Posted: October 23, 2024
Category: Alumni News, College News, Student Awards, Student News
Tagged as: A Seat at the Table, Better Cities Film Festival Detroit, Houston Wells, Robert Bailey, Sophia Abolfathi