Alan Franks

Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

Media Profile

"Good films can build bridges, and as an engineer-filmmaker, I plan to build many! My Fulbright will open a forum for me with the Australian community to celebrate the unique differences between our countries, while underscoring some of the similarities that may exist."

Alan Franks, a University of Alabama at Birmingham graduate, will have the opportunity to film a documentary on the engineering innovations used on Australian outback farms thanks to winning a Fulbright Scholarship. Alan is one of fifteen Americans to be granted a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to Australia in 2007, which he will use to earn a Master of Film and Digital Image at the University of Sydney.

The program Alan intends to undertake on his Fulbright will develop his filmmaking skills and offer him a creative space to film a documentary.

“I have developed an ambition for improving the social good through filmmaking, which I envision accomplishing through making educational documentaries that reveal fresh perspectives on social issues. Studying at the University of Sydney will significantly help make that goal attainable by providing me with world-class training from an internationally recognised school in a country with a very strong film presence.”

“The documentary I plan to create will exploit my many interests. The film is about modern and old-fashioned engineering technology on outback cattle stations, paying close attention to water-related concerns commonly found on these massive homesteads.”

Alan intends to screen both his Australian documentary, as well as his already produced films, in both continents and believes it could promote mutual understanding between the United States and Australia.

“Since film is an international medium, able to speak to multiple audiences, I plan to screen the films I have already made to my fellow students in Australia and to engage in discussion. I plan to distribute the viewings throughout my stay in both the city as well as in smaller rural towns which service the kinds of farming communities I hope to capture in my proposed documentary.”

Upon returning to the U.S., Alan plans to screen his Australian documentary in Birmingham and in film festivals across the nation. He also hopes to seek employment with a U.S. film company in order to gain practical experience and ultimately work for an educational television station to create documentaries addressing educational and cultural topics.

Alan has been a film exhibitor in Louisiana (2005), Alabama (2004-2007), North Carolina (2007), and photographic exhibitor in Florida (2006) and Missouri (2005).