Mary M. Dalton is Associate Professor of Communication, Director of Undergraduate Studies in Communication, and Co-director of the Documentary Film Program. Her ten documentaries have screened at various festivals, museums, galleries, and libraries. Her recent film Martha in Lattimore was an official selection of the 2006 SILVERDOCS/AFI Discovery Channel Documentary Festival and of the 2008 Documentary and Disability Film Festival in Athens, Greece. A new, half-hour version of Martha in Lattimore has been distributed to public television stations across the country by the National Educational Telecommunications Association. Dalton is also a media critic and regular contributor to the National Public Radio affiliate WFDD-FM, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her scholarly publications include the books The Hollywood Curriculum: Teachers in the Movies and Teacher TV: Sixty Years of Teachers on Television as well as the co-edited volume The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed.
Sandy Dickson, Professor of Communication and Co-Director of the Documentary Program, teaches courses in writing, producing and directing and serves as co-director and writer on documentary film productions. Prior to coming to Wake Forest, Sandy Dickson, along with colleagues Cindy Hill and Cara Pilson, worked for more than ten years teaching and administering the Documentary Institute graduate program at the University of Florida and producing and directing documentary films.
As a member of The Documentary Institute, Dickson co-directed Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power, which aired on PBS' Independent Lens in February 2006. Negroes with Guns also screened at numerous film festivals including the Los Angeles Film Festival, New York Urbanworld (Best Documentary), Detroit Docs (Audience Award Feature Documentary) and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The documentary was also the recipient of the 2006 Erik Barnouw Award for Outstanding Historical Documentary. She also co-produced the critically acclaimed Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore, winner of the 2001 Erik Barnouw Award for Outstanding Historical Documentary. Most recently, Dickson and her former UF colleagues produced Angel of Ahlem, the story of a WWII veteran's search for the Holocaust survivors he photographed on April 10, 1945. Angel of Ahlem screened at the Lincoln Center in New York, May 2007 and is currently in the distribution process. Other past films include Giving Up the Canal, Campaign for Cuba and Last Days of the Revolution, all of which aired nationally on PBS.
Cindy Hill, Lecturer in Communication and Associate Director of the Documentary Film Program, teaches courses in field and post-production and functions as director of photography and as associate director on faculty film projects.
Cara Pilson, Lecturer in Communication and Associate Director of the Documentary Film Program, teaches classes in research and ethics and serves as director of research and associate director on faculty film projects.
Peter Gilbert has had a distinguished career in producing, directing, and photographing documentaries, feature films, commercials, and music videos. He is one of the filmmakers who made Hoop Dreams, serving as a producer and director of Photography. The film won numerous awards including The Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Producers Guild of America, Independent Spirit Award, and The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for Journalism. Hoop Dreams was on 100+ top ten lists for 1994.
Also with Kartemquin and Steve James, he recently finished At the Death House Door which premiered at South by Southwest in 2008, and won awards at several other festival following, including the inspiration award at Full Frame. It aired on the Independent Film Channel in May of 2008. In 2004, he produced and directed, With All Deliberate Speed, the first work in the new series "Discovery Docs," for the Discovery Network. The nationally released film portrays the drama of the monumental Brown V. Board Supreme Court decision that helped change the racial fabric of our country in 1954. With All Deliberate Speed was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for Distinguished Work in Non-Fiction Film.
Donna Wesley handles the administrative, accounting and reception functions for the DFP faculty and students.
The Documentary Film Program @ Wake Forest University
Box 7347, Reynolda Station | Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109 | 336.758.3367
documentary@wfu.edu