Tsinghua International School's new THIS Monthly Speaker Series welcomed award-winning documentary maker and editor Nancy Novack to its campus on Monday, December 13 to talk to a Grade 6 - 12 assembly on her work and career as a filmmaker. About 100 students and teachers were exposed to an exciting new field as Nancy spoke about her passion for her chosen career and some of the secrets of her success in breaking into this extremely competitive profession. Ms. Novack showed a ten-minute segment of one of her projects, "When the Levees Broke" - a four-hour documentary directed by film director Spike Lee. The segment, part of a series recommended for high students by Columbia Teacher's College in New York, dealt with the aftermath of the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. The students watched as the people severely impacted by the devastation expressed their despair and anger over the unfolding disaster, as FEMA, along with the federal, state and local governments struggled to bring the emergency and its aftermath under control. Ms. Novack expressed her view about the theme of the documentary, which challenged authorities over who exactly was responsible for taking leadership of the solution to this unprecedented emergency. The secondary students at Tsinghua International School caught a glimpse of the professionalism and passion of the documentary artist, and were eager to ask questions after her presentation. Among them, how was she able to break into such a competitive field in New York City, and why she chose such a demanding profession, and what was her dream at their age. Later, Ms. Novack spoke to other separate classes at Tsinghua High School, talking about her experiences as a documentary filmmaker, and sharing some of the tips of her craft.
The Tsinghua International School's new THIS Monthly Speaker Series has been designed to invite dynamic speakers from the community to share their real-life knowledge and passion with our students and provide a "preview of coming attractions" on professional careers as well as on topics of value that they will experience in the real world, beyond our campus.

Nancy Novack – Documentary Filmmaker and Editor
Nancy has been editing documentary and feature films for 18 years. Her work has appeared on HBO, PBS, MSNBC, the History Channel, and Discovery Times and has bee featured at the Sundance, Venice and Tribeca film festivals. Some recent projects include for PBS: Frontline's Failure to Protect, which earned the DuPont journalism award and Broadway: The American Musical, which won an Emmy for best non-fiction series. Novack most recently edited Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, for HBO, for which she won a 2007 Emmy for "Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming". Novack received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications.