After screening her feature film, “The Limits of My World,” on campus, Cassano spoke with students in the elondocs production program and attended School of Communications classes.
After a screening of her film, “The Limits of My World,” Heather Cassano ’13 was awarded the elondocs Emerging Documentarian Award on Nov. 7. The Elon alumna directed, produced, filmed and edited the feature-length documentary, which chronicles a nonverbal young man’s transition from the school system into adulthood.
“To have your work screened at the place that started you making that work … it’s pretty great,” Cassano said.
Following the documentary in Turner Theatre, students asked Cassano questions about the documentary process, what it was like to film her brother, and how her time at Elon helped her professional career as a documentarian.
Cassano said elondocs was formative in teaching her how to make documentary films and getting her involved in the festival circuit. She attended her first festival, the Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, with elondocs.
“One of the key moments of thinking about how I was going to make ‘Limits of My World’ happened when I was at Full Frame with elondocs,” Cassano said. “Without elondocs, maybe there wouldn’t be ‘The Limits of My World.’”
Communications Fellow Mackenzie Wilkes ’22 attended the screening as a part of elondocs’s current cohort, which joined Cassano for dinner following the evening’s Q&A session. The sophomore said she enjoyed getting a chance to connect with Cassano.
“It’s always a great opportunity to talk with alumni, and having the opportunity to get dinner with Cassano and the other elondocs members was a good experience,” Wilkes said.
Cassano, who lives and works in the Greater Boston area, is the third recipient of the Emerging Documentarian Award, joining alumni Dan Koehler ‘12 and Erin Barnett ‘09. When she’s not making films, she teaches documentary production at Emerson College and programs the short films for Salem Film Fest. She is also an active member of the Non-Fiction Cartel.