Project Rebirth
A Living History of the Human Spirit Coping with Disaster
Project Rebirth is a documentary film chronicling the recovery of the human spirit after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Directed by Georgetown alumnus Jim Whitaker (C'90), the film combines time-lapse footage of Ground Zero and interviews with those affected by the disaster to portray the rebuilding of the site and of the survivors' lives.
At the heart of Project Rebirth are the same ideals that inspire all of us as members of the Georgetown community: our mission to unite reflection and action, to live in service to others, to care for the whole person, and to promote intercultural understanding.
John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University
At Georgetown
Participants
Georgetown's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship is collaborating with Columbia's Center for New Media Teaching and Learning to design educational uses for the enormous amount of footage collected for the film. This archive has tremendous potential for study not only by students and faculty but also by first responders to disasters, those coping with trauma, and other members of the community.
Professors at Georgetown and Columbia have already incorporated footage from the Project Rebirth interviews into courses from a range of disciplines, including English, Film Studies, Psychiatry, and Psychology, and faculty from other departments such as Linguistics and Anthropology are planning to use the footage in future courses. Columbia and Georgetown have also reached out to the New York Police Department and the Arlington Fire Department to begin developing training materials using the footage.
First Year Writing
Video from Columbia University: Randy Bass
(Video of the talks by Columbia professors George Bonano and
Katherine Shear can be found here).
At a symposium at Columbia University in April 2009, Georgetown University professor Randy Bass (English) shares his experiences teaching a first-year writing course that used Project Rebirth footage to help students understand "the rhetoric of trauma.”
Film Studies
Video from Columbia University: Bernard Cook
(Video of the talks by Columbia professors George Bonano and
Katherine Shear can be found here).
At a symposium at Columbia University in April 2009, Georgetown professor Bernard Cook (American Studies) discusses his experiences teaching with Project Rebirth footage and analyzing its potential as raw unedited documentary material.