As the Emmy Awards approach and everybody prepares for red carpet coverage, another thing for Tigers to look out for besides wardrobe malfunctions and leaked previews are Cynthia Lowen and Mike Shum, two Colorado College graduates, who have made the nominations list in a number of categories.
Cynthia Lowen’s film “Bully” was nominated for both Outstanding Long-Form Informational Programming and for Best Documentary. In addition, Michael Shum received a nomination for Outstanding Interview for his video short “Surviving an ISIS Massacre.”
Lowen graduated in 2001 with a double major in Creative Writing and English. She both wrote and produced “Bully.” The film follows the heartbreaking experience of five American families confronted with bullying and calls on school administrations across the country to take responsibility for the safety and well-being of their students.
Her effort to spread awareness of this common-yet-neglected problem has already been met with tremendous success. “Bully” received the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award for excellence in Journalism and the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild for America. In April 2012, “Bully” even made its way to a White House screening.
Joining Lowen on awards night will be Mike Shum, an ‘07 sociology alumnus. Shum’s video short, “Surviving an ISIS Massacre,” details the incredible story of Ali Hussein Kadhim, an Iraqi military recruit and sole survivor of a June 2014 massacre that left hundreds of his fellow soldiers dead.
At the time of the massacre, ISIS was still on the rise and the group’s hauntingly violent capabilities were largely unknown to the public.
“When footage of the massacre broke, I took it with a grain of salt,” said Mike Shum, director of the short film. “I wasn’t entirely sure it was true since the media came from [ISIS]. They control the media, and there was no basis for verification in that immediate moment.”
After talking with locals through his translator, Shum confirmed the horrendous reality—and also unearthed the possibility of an unlikely survivor.
“We thought, ‘If we could find him that’d be crazy,’” said Shum. “This is a story that needs to be told. This was a way to learn more about ISIS and get intelligible information on Kadhim without going through the front lines.”
Because of the improbability of Kadhim’s story, Shum’s biggest challenge was verification. Luckily, the Hollywood-esque survival of Kadhim also grabbed the attention of Richard Tanner, New York Times Senior Video Editor, who was able to provide a lot of resources into verifying Khadim’s story.
When reflecting on his career path, Shum feels CC played an important role.
“I took advantage of the Block Plan by really trying to learn by experience,” said Shum. “I could spend all day reading about this, or I could do it and go from there. Because I studied abroad in Tanzania, I learned enough Swahili to get around. When I went to Kenya, later I got into film-making.”
In the midst of a series of extreme events, Kadhim’s survival story brings a ray of hope and a sentiment of human kindness to the violence.
After escaping the site of the massacre, Kadhim was kept hidden by multiple Sunni families who risked their lives to help return him home, though he is a Shi’ite.
“You have to look at the historical context of the situation,” said Shum. “I admit, I was pretty stunned by him describing this exit by this underground railroad. Sometimes, the better half of our angels actually get to us. I hope that was the biggest [takeaway] for anybody.”