Dolly & I Documentary (2021), Created by Alex Coenjaerts'24, Vivienne Ayres'24, Audrey Shupert'24 in collaboration with the Chapman University summer course titled "Project W".
Documentaries can cover a wide range of subjects, including social issues, historical events, and the lives of influential figures. When viewed through the lens of the creative and cultural industries, documentary films are a powerful tool for preserving cultural heritage, raising awareness about important social issues, and telling stories that might otherwise go untold. They can also be used as a means of promoting tourism, creating educational resources, and providing entertainment, amongst other things.
This is something that Alexandra Coenjaerts ‘24, a Junior studying Broadcast Journalism and Documentary Film, experienced firsthand while working on a documentary about Dolly Parton and Dolly’s relationship with the state of Tennessee and its residents. This project was produced through a Chapman University summer course titled Project W" which was developed with the intention of encouraging students to create short documentaries about inspirational women. Alexandra found that this experience as a broadcast journalist and documentary filmmaker deepened her passion for storytelling and demonstrated to her the potential documentaries have to promote cultural awareness and inspire others.
In this blog, she shares her insights into the creative and cultural industries and how documentary filmmaking plays a crucial role within them.
Despite not being a CCI minor, Alex has thought about her time in Dr. Maracine's CCI 301 class: Studies in Cultural Institutions from last semester, and shared that her interest in the course piqued due to her curiosity to explore the influence of diverse cultures and creative industries on our society.
She believes that her enrollment in Maracine's class has been beneficial to her career as a broadcast journalist. According to her, “broadcast journalism requires a comprehensive understanding of current events, and CCI is directly linked to that requirement. Even when discussing creative and cultural industries from the past, the class provided me with an opportunity to examine how different factors intersect in our world.” She also found the course particularly pertinent to documentary filmmaking, which involves long-form journalism and a more artistic approach to filming and storytelling. This aligns with the creative process emphasized in CCI, making the course highly relevant to her work in documentary film.
According to Alex, her documentary "Dolly & I" came about through her participation in the Chapman summer course, DOC 329-01: PROJECT W, where she collaborated with Vivienne Ayres '24 and Audrey Shupert '24, both Broadcast Journalism and Documentary Filmmaking majors at Dodge. The course aimed to create short documentaries "about women whose stories provide inspiration and courage." While working on the project, Vivienne and Audrey, who were from Tennessee, shared with Alex the significant influence of Dolly Parton on the culture of their home state. This discussion sparked Alex's interest in investigating Parton's impact on the region further, which led to the creation of their documentary.
Alex recalls that “as we researched further, we realized how intriguing this topic was since Audrey is a native Tennessean, Vivienne recently moved there, and I had no prior connection to the state. Therefore, our documentary aimed to showcase our unique perspectives on Parton and her impact on Tennessee. It was fascinating to shed light on Parton’s god-like influence on southern culture that is not talked about enough.”
The process for creating the documentary was rather extensive, Alex expressed. “During the summer, we took part in the four-week course, which included the ideation and production of our documentary. Before flying out to Tennessee, we spent a considerable amount of time on pre-production work, which involved extensive research and numerous emails. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was challenging to film in Tennessee, as not everyone was willing to get tested therefore we had to take care of all the legal requirements to ensure everyone's safety during the filming process.”
“Once I arrived in Tennessee, Audrey and Vivienne met me at Vivienne's house, and we began filming immediately. We interviewed Dolly Parton's manager, a man who sold Dolly Parton t-shirts, and a young girl who was a huge Dolly Parton fan. We related the young girl's story to Audrey and used it to highlight her experience growing up with Dolly.”
“After completing the filming, Audrey took charge of most of the editing work, and we worked together to finalize the project. We submitted the documentary to several film festivals, and it ended up receiving lots of positive feedback.”
Alex realized that after working on the documentary during her freshman year and her experience in the CCI class, that the two are more closely related than many people think. In fact she expresses that “documentaries have a huge impact in CCI because with new networks like Netflix and Hulu and other streaming services, there are new ways to watch documentaries such as miniseries and docu-series, which are becoming more visually appealing, rather than the traditional TV-esque pieces of over an hour that may not be as appealing to audiences. This shift to high quality storytelling and filmmaking is making people pay more attention to documentaries and is highlighting their potential to promote cultural awareness and inspire others.” Alex believes that this shift is important for the future of documentary filmmaking, as it “opens up new possibilities for storytelling and makes it more accessible to a wider audience.”
Lastly, she says that taking the CCI course has helped her experience as a documentary filmmaker and broadcast journalist because “As someone who aspires to be an international correspondent, I see documentaries as a powerful tool for promoting cultural awareness and inspiring others. My ultimate goal is to tell stories that are often overlooked and showcase the voices of people who are not commonly represented in the media. Through my work, I hope to provide a window into different parts of the world and demonstrate why global events matter– whether they pertain to individuals or industries, and how they affect us all. By sharing these stories, I aim to connect people, amplify underrepresented voices, encourage conversation, and promote critical thinking about important issues around the world.”
We invite you to watch Alex's documentary Dolly & I on Dolly Parton and her impact on Tennessee, which highlights the power of documentaries to tell unique stories and preserve cultural heritage. Through her experience in CCI, Alex shows us that documentaries are not just a form of entertainment but a powerful tool to promote cultural awareness and inspire others.