IU sophomore Kate Feinberg is double majoring in political science and cinema media arts to eventually write rights and right wrongs with her writing skills.
Both majors take advantage of her penchant for the pen, and she said it gives her a “safety net,” regardless of the route she takes in the future.
“I’m choosing to double major in two things that require a heavy amount of writing, but it’s just two different styles of writing,” Feinberg said.
She considers writing for politics to be “one-dimensional” and limiting, while media related work allows more creativity. That has led her to lean toward working in media in the future, rather than going further along the law path.
“I can be both politically active and a filmmaker,” Feinberg said.
She has already found a way to marry her love for media with politics. She’s employed by the WIUX radio station to cover political topics, one of which included a live, 6-hour coverage of the 2020 presidential election.
Yet as a student journalist, she said she finds the general state of political media disconcerting. She believes it is overly polarized by divisive media driven by the wanton spread of misinformation. She said she believes new media, such as podcasts, contribute more to polarization than traditional media outlets such as CNN.
“I think that media outlets really do manipulate the audience,” Feinberg said.
She hopes political and news media will stick to telling the facts as objectively as possible, rather than sharing personal opinions that can potentially influence the audiences they’re serving.
Feinberg hopes to highlight federal corruption in a future documentary, but her current film project is unrelated to politics. Her untitled project is a short movie about a college girl returning home during break where she sees her old high school friends, which she thought of while stuck in her apartment during quarantine.
“We haven’t started filming it yet because of Covid,” Feinberg said.
Some of Feinberg’s high school friends who are studying acting are part of the cast. The movie is in pre-production right now, but she plans to have it released next summer.
She said she’s most inspired by filmmakers such as Ari Aster, who created “Midsommar,” and David Lynch, the creator of “Twin Peaks.” The works of these movie makers cover content that differs from her plans as a documentarian, but she believes she has learned a lot from certain aspects of how they've made their movies. One key aspect she took from their work is how some shots are made to linger for emphasis.
Feinberg may be studying two majors, but at the end of the day she’s majorly passionate about one thing. That is making a positive change in the world, whether that’s done through documenting politics or resolving legal cases.
“Kate is an outspoken and politically active filmmaker who attacks issues of mental health with fervor," said her friend Bailey Meyers, "Growing up with Kate, I was drawn to her uncompromising yet sympathetic attitude towards the discussion of ideas and contemporary concerns."
