Lights In the Shadows: MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop
See the full project at: https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
In the shadow of Silicon Valley’s booming technology industry, a growing number of people remain out in the cold.
Skyrocketing housing prices and an astronomical cost-of-living in America’s hub of innovation have pushed many onto the streets, straining policymakers to find solutions to a homelessness problem that directly, or indirectly, impacts everyone in the community.
It is a problem that is impossible to miss in California, which has more people experiencing homelessness than anywhere else in the country.
San Jose, the city at the heart of Silicon Valley, has the sixth largest number of unhoused citizens in the United States.
It is amidst this growing humanitarian crisis that Batman of San Jose and Crimson Fist have found their mission.
The two superheroes work anonymously in costume to provide a lifeline to the many people who sleep without shelter on San Jose’s sidewalks, camp in tents along the Guadalupe River or retreat to the subterranean darkness of the city’s storm drain tunnel system.
Lights in the Shadows follows the two superheroes as they hand out water and food to those in need, provide outreach for those who live on the margins and help Gretchen, a woman in the midst of an domestic violence crisis.
During their missions they discuss their views about what is leading to the rapidly growing homelessness crisis in their area, the common misconceptions other citizens have about the unhoused and what policymakers can, and should, be doing to help the most vulnerable in their districts.
Although Batman of San Jose and Crimson Fist are well-known in their community, especially among the unhoused whom they call friends, they have chosen to do their work without revealing their true identities, hoping their actions will be seen purely as benefit to the larger community, rather than themselves.
Lights in the Shadows is an exploration of the motives and mission of these two superheroes, whose selfless work to help others serves as an example for us all.
In the end, the two superheroes find that by acting upon their compassion and helping others in their community, they discover who they really are.
MediaStorm Staff
Brian Storm - Director, Editor, Producer
https://www.mediastorm.com/about/cont...
Robert Browman - Cinematographer, Editor, Producer
https://www.mediastorm.com/about/cont...
Workshop Participants
Bria Granville, Producer / Freelance
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Bryan Meltz, Photojournalist / Freelance
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
David Barreda, Picture Editor / National Geographic
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Brontë Wittpenn, Cinematographer / San Francisco Chronicle
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
David Wurtzel, Cinematographer / CT Public Media
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Tim Fadek, Cinematographer / Freelance
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Tae Lee, Motion Graphics / Apple
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Shaminder Dulai, XR coverage / Freelance
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Margo Reed, Documentarian / Freelance
https://www.mediastorm.com/training/w...
Special Thanks
Batman’s Dad
Sameer Shah, Voyager Coffee
Rebel Sun
Featuring
Batman of San Jose
Crimson Fist
Tristia Bauman
Marco Najarro
Matt Mahan
Gretchen
Angel
Frankie
Tina Cuevas
Dez Morales
Adam Duran
Daron O'Donnell
Lauren Burns
Lenora Pina
Amanda Thompson
Paul Soto
RC
Peter Pineda
Todd Morris
Richard Dabbs
Vanessa
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