The Guardian to Feature Documentary by Jason Hanasik ’03

On March 2, The Guardian Documentaries is set to release a short doc by Jason Hanasik ’03 (photography). How to Make a Pearl tells the story of a man who suffers from a rare photosensitivity to all light forcing him to live in complete darkness.

The film was a finalist for both a Student Academy Award in 2017 and the IDA’s (International Documentary Association) David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award.

Since graduating from Purchase with a BFA in photography, Hanasik went on to earn an MFA from California College of the Arts and a Master’s degree in Journalism from UC Berkley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Hanasik is an artist, filmmaker, and curator, whose work has shown at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, among others. 

In his previous role at Gap, Inc. as the company’s first Global Storyteller, he created their submission for the It Gets Better campaign, serving as the director, interviewer, videographer, editor, sound technician, and project manager.

—Kristi McKee