@Macaulay Inside Look: Impact Documentaries with Robert Small

Take a sneak peak into our upper level course, Impact Documentaries with professor Robert Small. Impact Documentaries is a 2-section course that explores the structure, storytelling, ethics and impact of the documentary art form on society. Exploration into short and longform documentaries with a wide range of subjects including, income inequality, LGBTQ issues, race relations and climate change to name a few. Students view and discuss films as well as produce their own short documentary. The class includes speakers from the documentary industry followed by Q&A sessions.

Robert Small
New Media & Digital Content Lab Director

Robert Small comes to Macaulay as an industry professional who started teaching at Macaulay in 2013. He has operated his own New York based media production company for over 25 years creating several successful television series and independent documentaries. To his many credits are the creation of the award-winning international music series MTV Unplugged, over 30 biographies for the A&E network, specials for HBO, BET and Showtime. He has produced and directed 5 independent documentaries including “Something Out of Nothing” and “I Ain’t Scared of You” about the life of Bernie Mac which he received Best Director at the Harlem International Film Festival.

Mr. Small has received multiple awards for his work including the coveted George Foster Peabody Award, 3 prime time Emmy nominations, and an honorary MTV Music Video Award. He is currently completing a feature length documentary titled “You Don’t Own Me: The Song that Said It All.”

He is currently teaching 2 classes for Macaulay Honors College, “Impact Documentaries” and “Digital Storytelling and the Media”.

Emily Larcher ’21 is a senior at Macaulay Honors College, Baruch campus pursuing a major in Political Science. Passionate about film and media, she has previously interned at Kickstarter, Museum of the Moving Image, and PEN America. She resides in Jackson Heights, with her family.

Flora Lennihan ’21 is a senior at Macaulay Honors College, City campus. An award-winning documentary filmmaker majoring Film and minoring in Anthropology. She is passionate about sharing stories that relate to social issues, music, and everyday people. Having grown up in diverse Brooklyn communities, Flora knows that everyone has an interesting story to share and aims to do so through her work

Salma Ali ’21 is a senior at Macaulay Honors College, Brooklyn campus pursuing a Psychology major who is planning to pursue a career as a Physician’s Assistant. I enjoy cooking, bike riding, painting, and traveling. I hope to someday work as a travel PA and be able to work in underserved communities around the world.