Four questions for Nathan Bynum

Arlington, VA during World War I: "The effects of the war were not always far away."

By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, U.S. World War One Centennial Commission

Nathan Bynum Nathan Bynum works as an Instructor/Producer with the "Document Arlington" community video project. He has spent the several past months leading a group of film students in the creation of a documentary film about Arlington County and WWI. Members of the World War I Centennial Commission attended a special screening of the film last week, and it was amazing. It shows a truly grassroots effort by local high students to engage with WWI in their community. We caught up with Nathan recently, and asked him about the World War I film project.

You and your students worked on a pretty special WWI video project. Tell us about it. How did the idea come about? 

The project is a partnership between Arlington Independent Media and Arlington County's Historic Preservation Program. We choose three paid high school interns who work to create a documentary on a topic chosen by the Historic Preservation Program.

This year, the topic chosen was Arlington during World War I, which was 100 years ago. Students were given a lot of freedom with how they went about covering the topic. They wanted to interview experts on the time-period, but they also brought a lot of their own knowledge and research to the topic. They were also encouraged to come up with their own story line, which focused on a high school student doing a project about World War I who decides to focus on Arlington's role. The effects of the war were not always far away.

Was this in addition to other regular WWI curriculum?

Student filmakers at workWe hope that the video becomes a support for history curriculum. The interns did an amazing job on it.

How did the students respond to the project? What did they learn that you found interesting?

Students were truly professional. They learned a tremendous amount about Arlington's 13 soldiers who fought in the war. They also learned that they are highly capable people who can make a great documentary, and I hope this confidence goes with them into the rest of their lives. They also connected with people who really care about history of World War I and gained an understanding for why it is important to people to remember what happened.

Where will we be able to see this film? Are there other WWI projects, or other film projects on the slate for the coming school year?

The link to the film is here so you can watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZ0rI07e1Y

The film is also airing on Arlington Independent Media, channel 69 (Comcast) and 38 (Verizon). The air times follow.
Mondays @ 5pm
Wednesdays @ 8pm
Saturdays @ 9am

It will also be shown on November 20th at Arlington Public Library's Central location ahead of their screening of All Quiet on the Western Front.