(L to R) Emily Asgari, Cassie Doutt, Oluwatobi Agbelemose, Lauren Wertheimer, Prof. Jack Lerner, and Reece Foster
Last Saturday, several students from UCI Law’s Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic were privileged to attend longtime IPAT client International Documentary Association’s annual Docuday event at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles. In attestation to the power of documentaries, students experienced an emotional rollercoaster with each film, whether it was crying through the documentary short End Game, laughing and admiring the accomplishments of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG, recognizing the disheartening plight of migrants in Lifeboat, or hanging on the edge of their seats through the terrifying climb in Free Solo (the documentary feature that took home the Oscar last Sunday). It is the emotional and insightful power of documentary films that make them such an important free speech activity. Second-year law student and member of IPAT’s Filmmakers and Fair Use Team Oluwatobi Agbelemose stated that “attending Docuday was an amazing opportunity and a reminder of why the work our fair use team does is so important.” He commented that each documentary shown “created its own platform to shed light on something important to that filmmaking team” and that “it was all in alignment with the clinic’s mission to empower filmmakers seeking to make a social impact.”