Alana (Horrigan) deJoseph (Mali 1992-94) Making a Film on the Peace Corps
Alana (Horrigan) deJoseph (Mali 1992-94) was involved in rural small enterprise development as a PCV and today she makes films. She has worked in video and film production for over 20 years and has worn many hats as producer, director, videographer, and editor. Her latest involvement was in the production of The Greatest Good, a documentary about the US Forest Service. Now she wants to do an in-depth, comprehensive documentary on the Peace Corps. As she says on her website: “In a time when the American public either has a very antiquated notion of Peace Corps, informed by an almost mythological awe of the 60s, or is not even aware that the agency still exists, it is high time to bring this unique organization back into the public discourse, to raise the level of the discussion from quaint to crucial.” Alana goes onto say, “Many books have been written and films produced about the singular experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers. However, there has never been a documentary about the agency itself, its unique history, its charismatic and strong-minded characters, the political machinations that have taken the agency from a presidential campaign platform to an organization so unique that its volunteers’ mission continues for the rest of their lives.” You can learn more about her film at www.peacecorpsdocumentary.com or write her directly at: info@peacecorpsdocumentary.com
Certainly this is a worthy project. However, I believe that Peace Corps can not be condensed into a film nor a book or even a collection of books. It is the individual account of over 210,000 people in 137 countries over fifty years. This is why I argue that there needs to be a Peace Corps Archive/Library/Museum so that a comprehensive record can be preserved.
I am also not sure if the documentary is about the Peace Corps agency or about the work of Peace Corps Volunteers, which is the question I emailed the film makers.