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Documentary Internship

China Folk House Retreat Documentary Internship Program (Summer 2022)

 

The China Folk House Retreat (CFHR) is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering cultural and educational exchanges between the U.S. and China, and to providing a site for spiritual reflection, experiential education, and environmental sustainability programs for students of all ages across the greater Washington, DC area. 

 

The CFHR project saved a farmhouse from the village of Cizhong, Yunnan Province, from dam construction on the headwaters of the Mekong River, by documenting the house and its landscape, disassembling and moving the physical structures, and then reassembling the homestead along the Shenandoah River at the Friends Wilderness Center in Jefferson County, West Virginia.  The China Folk House Retreat is now being built as a “living museum”, a cultural exchange center, and site for experiential learning and environmental stewardship

 

Program Overview

The China Folk House was initially researched and moved from China in the summer of 2017.  After a year of planning and organizational partnership with the Friends Wilderness Center and West Virginia Timber Framers Guild, CFHR began holding summer programs in 2019 for high school students to help in the reconstruction of the house.  The 2019 program raised the timber frame; the 2020 program built the surrounding “hempcrete” walls; the 2021 program raised the original kitchen and installed the interior walls of the house. The Summer 2022 program will be devoted to building gardens—vegetable, ethnobotanical, landscape—and finishing the courtyard and walls using traditional techniques and patterns.  Students and community volunteers learn traditional building techniques through hands-on work, and they encounter the many cultures and folkways of Yunnan through the material culture inscribed in the house itself.  All CFHR activities are documented in film, photographs, and text. 

 

Overall Function

The CFHR Documentary intern will be responsible for collecting and editing documentary materials—primarily film and photography-- for the summer 2022 program, as well as working with documentation from earlier programs. The CFHR Documentary Intern will provide research, outreach, and organizational support to help advance the program's public engagement.

 

Key Responsibilities

Tasks will include but are not limited to:

  • Support CFHR’s documentation of the reconstruction process by filming, editing, and producing video for a documentary film and the CFHR YouTube channel.

  • Support development of content for public media campaigns and community outreach.

  • Support the team with writing needs, including blogs, social media and reports.

 

Qualifications

  • Undergraduate studies or degree in a relevant field (film and media studies, East Asian studies) or demonstrated experience in film and film editing is required.

  • Proficiency in film editing computer applications and standard desktop-based software.

  • Excellent written and oral communication skills; experience working with various communication styles to effectively communicate to multiple audiences.

  • Must be well organized, motivated, detail-oriented.

  • Ability to multi-task, prioritize, work collaboratively, and be flexible.

  • Demonstrated initiative and problem-solving skills.

  • Interest in social sciences and East Asian studies is a plus.

 

Location

The internship will primarily be onsite at the China Folk House Retreat in rural Harpers Ferry, WV.  Interns resident at CFHR must be vaccinated and follow CDC pandemic guidelines. Some work may be completed remotely, in consultation with the program supervisor.

 

Term

Eight weeks (depending on candidate availability; specific dates negotiable) June 1 – August 1

 

Hours

Full-time: note that this is a full-time on-site resident program with the expectation that interns will participate in formal and informal program activities.

 

Compensation

This internship covers all living expenses and provides a stipend, to be determined in consultation with each university’s policies. Students are encouraged to seek academic credit or funding through their college/university and CFHR will ensure that all paperwork needed to secure academic credit is completed.

 

Application Materials

Interested applicants should send a cover letter explaining their interest and experience, and current c.v. to: chinafolkhouse@gmail.com subject heading “Documentary internship”

 

China Folk House Retreat is an equal opportunity employer where an applicant's qualifications are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other basis prohibited by law.

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