The Hillsdale Documentary Filmmaking Class will screen “Hillsdale to Hilltop” on Tuesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in Plaster Auditorium.
The documentary highlights the achievements of four alumni — a poet, a politician, an NFL star, and a pundit — and how they credit part of their success to Hillsdale College despite coming from different generations and careers.
“Hillsdale is not the kind of a school that trains you for a specific role in life or a specific purpose,” journalism instructor Buddy Moorehouse said. “Hillsdale teaches you how to think, how to question. Then those skills are what you can take out into the world, and excel in whatever field you decide to excel in. I think that really comes through in those four stories.”
The featured alumni are poet Will Carleton, Rep. Phil Crane, former NFL kicker Chester Marcol, and Fox News commentator Kat Timpf. Carleton was known for his early commentary on rural and impoverished American life. Crane, at the time of his election loss in 2004, was the longest-serving Republican in the House of Representatives, and ran for president in the 1980 election. Marcol once held the NFL record for the longest field goal kick, while Timpf is a regular panelist on “Gutfeld!” and hosts her own Fox Nation show “Sincerely, Kat.” Students were able to interview both Marcol and Timpf, the two living alumni.
“Traveling to New York to interview Kat Timpf made the documentary a much deeper reality,” junior Monroe Beute said. “Interviewing Kat was incredible. We filmed her in a studio at Fox News in Manhattan, equipped with stage lights and a background, which reflected a normal day in Kat’s occupation. It amazed me to see Kat so comfortable in front of the camera. Her TV personality truly came alive, even for our documentary class project.”
The Dow Journalism Program paid for flights, housing, and food.
“I am thrilled to have had the chance to travel to New York City for our class project,” Beute said. “I heard about the experiences of past students who traveled to Arizona for the documentary about Elizabeth Smith Friedman, but I never imagined I would also have the opportunity to travel. I am so grateful to the college for their contributions to this unique experience.”
Beute said students began researching the alumni in February, and conducted interviews in March. They have been at work editing the final film using Adobe Premiere and iMovie. One classmate is even producing original music for the documentary.
“People are just going to be fascinated to learn the stories of these people who went to the same college that they did, and the only thing that they all have in common is they spent four years on this same hill in southern Michigan, going to the same college,” Moorehouse said. “There’s that common shared experience, so I think they’re going to find inspiration in their stories.”
In addition to “Hillsdale to Hilltop,” the premiere will also feature multiple five-minute features produced by individual students. Topics include Margaret Thatcher’s connection to Hillsdale, and how an 18-year-old became mayor for the city of Hillsdale in the early 2000s.
“As a documentarian, there’s a lot that goes into making a documentary, beyond just editing the film and doing the research,” Moorehouse said. “You have to write the script, figure out the story arc, collect all the images and everything. They’ve learned all that and I’m so proud of the progress that they’ve shown and I can’t wait for everyone to see it next Tuesday night.”
