The News is What We Make It

Nickey Robare

Nickey Robare

Animation
Short Film

More About The News Is What We Make It from Director Nickey Robare

As a second-year student at Hampshire College, I applied for the Hampshire film alumni internship program and was placed at a small animation studio in Portland, OR. I returned to intern there for two summers, during which time I fell in love with the medium. �I wasn’t very familiar with animation before my first summer, and was very disheartened to learn that commercial work is the most likely way to make a living at animation. Given my longheld progressive political beliefs, the idea of spending the rest of my life making advertisements upset me.

All students at Hampshire must complete a yearlong thesis project, called a Division III project, during their final year. I had developed a passion for issues of media democracy, and realized that a film about the subject would make a perfect Div III project. I spent more than eight months writing, recording the soundtrack, building sets and characters, animating, and editing — working almost entirely by myself, with the support of my advisor, video artist Joan Braderman and my second committee member, experimental filmmaker Bill Brand.

Since I completed this project, it has been screened at festivals large and small, in church basements and punk house living rooms. My intention was to make media issues accessible and understandable to all people of all ages and backgrounds. I feel I accomplished this goal, and I hope the film can continue to be shown widely and reach as many people as possible.

FILMMAKER BIO

Nickey Robare, Director/Producer

Nickey Robare made her first stop-motion film, Magical Dishes, at age twelve and has been involved in film production ever since. In high school she studied writing and communication arts at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, cementing these interests. While studying film and popular culture at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, Nickey fell in love with animation (during two summer stints at Bent Image Lab in Portland, OR) and developed a passionate interest in issues of media ownership. These dual interests culminated in the production of The News is What We Make It, which she produced under the guidance of advisor Joan Braderman and committee member Bill Brand as her senior project at Hampshire. Nickey describes making the film as a “great and arduous experience,” which most recently culminated in the film winning Best Socially Conscious Animation in the Portland Indy Animation Festival and being accepted for screening at several upcoming festivals. Nickey now resides in Portland, OR, where she produces a cable access political dance party extravaganza called, “The Politics of Dancing” and recently helped edit the feature length documentary $100 and a T-Shirt, about zines in the Northwest. She continues to make films, dance, write zines, and volunteer for various organizations. She hopes to eventually make a career of community media education.