Video History Project

People

Carolyn Tennant

EDUCATION: Masters of Fine Arts; SUNY at Buffalo: Amherst, NY Bachelors of Arts, 1997; Hampshire College: Amherst, MA

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION: Squeaky Wheel: Buffalo, NY (2003); Visual Studies Workshop: Rochester, NY (2002); Ithaca College: Ithaca, NY (2002); Tompkins Cortland Community College: Ithaca, NY (2002); Mount Holyoke College: South Hadley, MA (1993-5), Cornell University: Ithaca, NY (1993-4); Salt Center for Documentary Field Studies: Portland, ME (1994).

Experimental Television Center (Newark Valley, NY): 6/2002-present. Work with the Video History Archive.

Research Assistant for Dr. Zimmermann and Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY) 1/2002-present. Copy editing and miscellaneous research and administrative work. Mr. Big Film, Inc. (Chicago, IL): 6/2000-10/2001 Office Manager of an independent commercial film company; Atomic Imaging, Inc. (Chicago, IL): 2/1999-6/2000 Receptionist/Office Manager of new media and video production house. Production Craft, Inc. (Chicago, IL): fall 1998 Temporary receptionist at this broadcast video production company.

RELATED PRODUCTION AND FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE:

Fenceline: A Company Town Divided. Directed by Slawomir Grunberg. This documentary was sponsored by ITVS and was recently selected for PBS Point of View. My work on this project included working on the transcripts and the final film script, as well as assisting the editor.

The Last Hand Loader. Directed and Produced by Carolyn Tennant. A work in progress, this video documentary examines the life and music of Carl Rutherford, who recently released a recording through the Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Rulloff's Brain. Directed and Produced by Carolyn Tennant. This 5 min. documentary experiment explores the life of local legend Edward Rulloff, his criminal activities-including murder, and the phrenology movement that was popular at the time of his execution.

Mazamorreo: En Busqueda de Memoria/In Search Of Memory. Directed by Claudia Courbon. This video documentary explores the culture of Afro-Colombians in the Pacific Lowlands, presenting their unique and isolated culture. I have collaborated on this project over the past three years as a grant writer (awarded $10,000 from the Ill. Humanities Council), script writer, assistant editor and narrator. The documentary premiered at the Chicago Latino Film Festival, spring 2000; that fall I presented the video at the International Latino Film Festival in Trieste, Italy.

You Don't Feed Me. Multi-media documentary by Carolyn Tennant. In addition to a brief social history examining the important role of Blues women in America, this documentary includes a personal reflection of the narrator's time spent with Willa Mae Buckner (a 78 year old retired bus driver, who was also a Carnival snake charmer, Blues singer and burlesque dancer) in east Winston-Salem.

Cite this record

"Carolyn Tennant." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/carolyn-tennant.

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Summary

Carolyn Tennant holds an MFA from SUNY at Buffalo and a BA (1997) from Hampshire College; additional studies include Squeaky Wheel (2003), Visual Studies Workshop (2002), Mount Holyoke (1993–95), Cornell (1993–94) and the Salt Center for Documentary Field Studies (1994). Since 6/2002 she has been affiliated with the Experimental Television Center (Newark Valley, NY) and from 1/2002 served as Research Assistant for Dr. Zimmermann at Ithaca College, performing copy editing and administrative work. Her Chicago employment included office-manager and receptionist roles; her productions include Fenceline, The Last Hand Loader, Rulloff's Brain, Mazamorreo (recipient of a $10,000 Ill. Humanities Council grant), and the multi-media You Don't Feed Me.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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