It all began with a friendship forged at Phillips Hall between Chris Temple ’12 and Zach Ingrasci ’12.
Shortly after meeting at CMC, the friends co-founded their nonprofit production company, Optimist, and over the past 14 years, Temple and Ingrasci have collaborated to produce more than 15 documentaries, which have been viewed around the world on platforms ranging from Netflix to National Geographic to HBO.
The award-winning filmmaking duo have documented several of their adventures, which include surviving for two months on $1 a day in Guatemala, living in a tent alongside Syrian refugees, and following the decade-long story of an undocumented boy’s journey from Guatemala to New York City.
With the intent to explore complex issues, Temple and Ingrasci have also raised $112 million for the causes championed in their films, such as providing education and learning materials to Syrian refugee children.
In addition, Temple and Ingrasci have given back to CMC by supporting students interested in pursuing careers in the creative sector.
“Chris and Zach are great partners to the College,” said Grace Park, Associate Director, Career Services at the Soll Center for Student Opportunity. As the career coach for students in the Creative and Entertainment cluster, Park organized CMC’s annual entertainment industry trek in the fall, and collaborated with a CMC student and professor to organize the first CMC Film Showcase. She said Temple and Ingrasci “are always willing to be involved,” whether it be with the trek or other programming that encourages creativity and media, as well as checking in with the Soll Center to offer internships and other opportunities for students.
And now, Temple and Ingrasci have deepened their involvement with the 2023-24 launch of the Optimist Creative Fellowship. The one-year program provides CMC students with hands-on experience in a range of filmmaking activities from on-set production and editing, to creating community outreach and social impact campaigns.
To introduce the CMC community to the first Optimist Fellows, Temple and Ingrasci recently hosted a “social hour” for CMC alumni, current students, and faculty at their headquarters in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. Temple thanked the many CMC alumni who are serving as the fellowship's founding advisory members: Kevin McNeely '75, CMC Trustee Harry McMahon '75 P'08 P'09, Drew Oetting '12, CMC Trustee Jeff Klein '75 P'08 P'11 P'14, and David Doss '75.
At the event, Chelsea Luo ’25 and Lucy Goldberg ’25 shared the benefits of being Optimist Fellows, which included working the Tribeca Film Festival during their fellowships’ first week.
Over the next few months, Luo, an International Relations major, said that she gained production and post-production experience, and the opportunity to voice her creative opinion. “I feel like that’s something rare,” she said. “There are real responsibilities tied to the job.”
Luo added that the fellowship allowed her to follow an interest in blending social impact with her creative interests while learning skills applicable to the job market. “I’ve had the space to let my creativity thrive, but also have had opportunities to grow up” and listen to the “healthy criticism, which is key to my growth as an artist.”
Goldberg, a Film and Classical Studies major, concurred, adding that the fellowship helped her to “learn what I want to do” post-CMC by offering networking opportunities and hands-on lessons in creating social media campaigns and marketing elements. “We learned a lot of fundamentals,” she said. “For example, I didn’t know what a sizzle reel was until we had to make one.”
Aside from offering the opportunity to learn valuable filmmaking and marketing skills, Temple said the most important lesson he hoped to impart was that “young people have the power and the potential to create change, to be really productive members of society.”