Local Filmmaker Gives Voice to Matawan Kids

Though she excels at telling a visual story, getting filmmaker Lori Ersolmaz to tell her life story in a linear way is no easy task.

"I have a lot of energy," she said in a nervous voice when Patch caught up with her recently. That's because, Ersolmaz, who lives in the Red Bank area, is much more comfortable behind the lens.

When she's not working as adjunct professor at Rider University in the Communications and Journalism Department, she's out at a labor rally or a neigborhood peace walk, following her passion to tell stories of people who, she says, have no voice. Hence the name of her company, Voices of Hope, which helps non-profits and government agencies build social marketing and issue advertising campaigns through documentaries.

Ersolmaz's work is essay-style documentaries with a focus on social issues such as criminal justice and environmental activism, but she also tells stories of women in business like . She broadcasts her stories on the Web, public access TV and public screenings-- anywhere she can get her message out. You can watch her stories here, including her documentary called Nowhere to Go, which focuses on the plight individuals who have come out of prison and struggle to make new lives for themselves. Last year, Voices of Hope won a Media Literacy Education Award from the National Association of Media Literacy Education for raising the visibility of media literacy education.

This fall, Ersolmaz took her teaching show on the road to the Matawan Student Enrichment Program (MSEP) held at Lloyd Road School. She taught the students how to tell a visual story with a Flip camera and a laptop. The 10-week class cost $145 each, which included use of the camera and editing software. At the end they would keep their footage, but the real take home for students turned out to be the chance to use their visual story to advocate for the very program they were enjoying. 

According to the students, the beloved enrichment program that has been operating at the school for more than 43 years, is in danger of shutting down due to rising costs, in part from decreased enrollment and higher facility fees.

With the help of a veteran of the program, Jonathon Lee, Ersolmaz harnessed the natural energy of the kids to guide them in crafting their own story to raise awareness of their endangered program.

The students did all their own interviews and editing to create a six-minute film, which you can watch it here. "The computer is just a tool," Ersolmaz told them, "You need to conceptualize."

For Lee, the subject was close to his heart. He spent 10 years in the program where he learned, among other things, drumming, animation and piano.

"Students come here to learn about different trades, different hobbies, and this is the only way they can experience different fields so this needs to stay, in my opinion," he said in one of the film's interviews. 

To give Lee and the students a voice for their cause energizes Ersolmaz, and she knows what they created through her teaching will be what energizes their community. It's the same energy driving her to tell stories about or a neighborhood's stand against violence. "There are lots of people doing things and we don't hear about them," she says. Seeing that work in her films, "that motivates other people."

"The only reason I am doing this work is because I want to make an impact," she said. "Teaching has an impact. It can change the way people see things."

Leonard Brokaw, director of the MSEP, said Wednesday that he was able to keep the program open by shortening the classes by two weeks, consolidating facilities and raising the cost slightly for out of town students. According to MSEP, there are still some spots available for classes starting this week.