The media arts & entertainment Elon graduate is one of five awardees selected for the fellowship made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society.
Elon alumnus Dan Koehler ’12 has been selected as part of the inaugural class of Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellows.
The National Geographic Society and the U.S. Department of State announced the five winners July 9. The five fellows will undertake an in-depth examination of a globally relevant issue, comparing and contrasting how that issue is experienced across borders.
Koehler, a filmmaker based in New York, will create a documentary film that tells the story of the San living near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Historically members of a hunter-gatherer society, the San were relocated from their ancestral homeland to designated settlements, which spurred severe socio-cultural change. His film will examine the larger issues of the situation with particular emphasis on San identity and membership in a modern state, promoting healthy dialogue about threatened cultures.
Koehler works with two-time Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry. He recently collaborated with Curry on “Point and Shoot,” a documentary that follows a Baltimore man who goes on a motorcycle trip through Northern Africa and the Middle East; it won best documentary at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. In 2012 Koehler directed, edited and shot “Win or Lose,” a short documentary by Elon University School of Communications that was screened at different film festivals last year, including the Seattle International Film Festival. As an undergraduate student, Koehler was a member of elondocs, Elon’s documentary production program.
The Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship was launched in 2013 as a new component of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. It provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and digital storytelling in up to three countries on a globally significant theme. This Fellowship is made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society.