UCLA School of Law’s Ahilan Arulanantham, who is among the nation’s leading authorities and advocates in immigration law, has earned the Distinguished Alumni Award from Equal Justic
When the winners of the 45th News and Documentary Emmy Awards were announced on September 26, the filmmakers behind one triumphant production were quick to credit a number of UCLA School of Law students and faculty members who helped make it all happen.
Alexandra Kolsky ’22 is now an associate at Venable, and she also worked on Free Chol Soo Lee as a student in the clinic. “It was one of the highlights of my time at UCLA Law,” she says. “The clinic not only gave me a strong foundational education in media and intellectual property law but also taught me how to use that education to help real clients solve real problems. I often reflect on the invaluable lessons I learned from my teammates and my wonderful professors in the clinic as a practicing IP attorney now.”
This year, clinic participants had special reason to keep tabs on the Emmy proceedings because, aside from Free Chol Soo Lee, two other films on which they had worked were nominated. Love in the Time of Fentanyl, about people who took an innovative approach to managing overdoses in Vancouver, Canada, had also played on Independent Lens on PBS. It was nominated in the Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary category. And Anonymous Sister achieved many accolades for its personal portrayal of the opioid crisis even before it was named as an Outstanding Social Issue Documentary nominee.
While neither of those movies won, the filmmakers who worked on them were very satisfied with the attention that the nominations afforded them – and with the work of the clinic students who helped bring the projects to fruition.
“It’s extremely gratifying to provide our students with the opportunity to work directly with these creative and inspiring filmmakers,” Cohen says. “Over the course of one or two semesters, we get to watch the clinicians grow from bright and aspiring lawyers into confident practitioners who are making a real difference.”
Stream Free Chol Soo Lee for free through Nov. 14.