Still in Motion

Fair Use and Best Practices Panel

A panel discussion called "The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing," hosted by the documentary arm of the Producers Guild of America East, will be held this coming Monday, the 31st, at 6:30 p.m. at HBO headquarters in midtown Manhattan (1100 Avenue of the Americas between 42nd and 43rd).

It will probably be quite useful if you're finding that these questions have been haunting you lately:
--Do I use copyrighted material in my production?
--What rights do I need to secure?
--What are the differences in copyright clearance for features, TV and new media?
--What is "fair use" of copyrighted material and how much will it cost?

Moderator, Mark Marabella, will be joined by producer, Judy Hampton, producer, Lesli Klainberg, law professor and director of the Intellectual Property Law Clinic at American University, Peter Jaszi, VP of HRH, one of the world's largest insurance and consulting firms, Paul Paray and copyright lawyer, Ken Swezey. 

This is only open to International Documentary Association members and their guests.  You can RSVP your reservation request to [email protected].

The UK's Big Green Picnic

As a precursor to next year's Isle of Wight Film Festival, the promoter of this inaugural fest, Bonobo TV, has been invited to provide the program for the Big Green Picnic cinema tent.  The Big Green Picnic is taking place on the island on May 24 and 25 at Newport.  They are scheduling 18 hours of films and are inviting submissions (both shorts and features, fiction and nonfiction) on environmental issues.  All submissions will also be considered for inclusion on Bonobo's Green Screen.

The Isle of Wight Council, which is vociferously marketing IOW as "Eco Island," says that the Eco Island is a vision that seeks to transform IOW into a community known throughout the world for its green credentials, becoming entirely energy self-sufficient with a completely carbon-neutral footprint.  They want to do this in a way that creates wealth by attracting cutting-edge industries that work to the best green principles, green technology and alternative energy production, like the Pan Urban Extension project that will create the island's largest sustainable eco-community, 800 homes built to a certain set of criteria for energy efficiency and sustainability.

The Big Green Picnic is a community-based event to encourage island residents to learn more about Eco Island and become involved and inspired to lead a green lifestyle in areas such as food, transport, arts, home and garden, beauty and health, energy and water, construction, waste and recycling and preservation of nature.  There will also be live musical performances (the famous Isle of Wight Music Festival is coming up soon and what a line-up!) and a cinema tent where your film on the environment can be shown!  For an easy way to find out more, you can write to Geoff Francis, founder of Bonobo.tv at [email protected].

AFI's 7th Annual Music Documentary Series

Shaz Bennett, star programmer of the AFI International Film Festival, sends word that AFI's Music Documentary Series presented by Audi returns for its 7th year in Los Angeles.  From April 2 through May 7, on five consecutive Wednesdays at the ArcLight in Hollywood (headquarters for the fest every November) and on four consecutive Mondays at the ArcLight in Sherman Oaks, there will be a showcase of docs celebrating the power of music.  All screenings at the Hollywood complex will be held at 8:00 p.m. and all screenings at the Sherman Oaks complex will be held at 7:30 p.m.  The closing night film, DA Pennebaker's seminal and brilliant, Don't Look Back, will screen at 7:30 p.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center on May 7th, followed by a reception.

You can buy tickets and see the slate of films (with trailers and clips and special guests appearing at screenings), including Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, Red Hot Chili Peppers: Untitled Documentary, Peter Tosh: Stepping Razor: Red X, and Joy Division, by clicking here .

New Directors/New Films at MoMA

This wonderful series at the Museum of Modern Art starts the 26th of this month and goes through April 6.  There's an incredible line-up of films exhibiting from all over the world.  This is the 37th year of this festival presented jointly by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the MoMA where New York audiences are introduced to the work of emerging or not-yet-established filmmakers.  All films are having their US or New York premieres and many screenings are introduced by the filmmakers in person.  Tickets are now on sale at Lincoln Center.

You can check out the incredible program by clicking here.  Some of the films I'm particularly excited about seeing are Frozen River by Courtney Hunt, fresh off its Grand Jury Prize win for Drama at this year's Sundance Film Festival; Momma's Man by Azazel Jacobs; Moving Midway by Godfrey Cheshire; Emily Hubley's Toe Tactic, fresh from its debut at SXSW last week; Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Trouble the Water, this year's Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner for Documentary; and, Slingshot Hip Hop by Jackie Reem Salloum.  These are just a few of the many wonderful films in the upcoming program.

The Bad Boys of Nonfiction--and Their Enabler, the Original Silver Jew

CBGB's Space Transforms

The Morrison Hotel Gallery will have a new space opening on March 27 at 313 Bowery, former home to CBGB's.  The space will preserve many elements of the original club's space which closed its doors for good after 33 years in October of 2006--truly, the end of an era.  (The photo at left is a rendering of the new Bowery space.)

Founded in 2001 by former record company executive and producer, Peter Blachley, former record store owner, Rich Horowitz and music photographer, Henry Diltz, the new space is planning installations by legendary photographers, Steve Joester, Bob Gruen, Timothy White and Barry Feinstein in the nearly 3,000 square foot gallery.  Morrison Hotel Gallery is a leading purveyor of fine art music photography and this will be their largest space, much more spacious than their existing galleries in Soho, Los Angeles and La Jolla, CA.  The interior of the space will change with each show, but the Morrison plans to maintain many original elements of the CBGB's Gallery, including the bathroom graffiti, an original wall logo stencil and a panel of show posters and hand-bills from CBGB's 10th anniversary that were buried in an inner wall.

The gallery will open with an exhibit by acclaimed British photographer and mixed media artist, Steve Joester.  Known for translating his images into inspired pop art collages, the artist chronicled British punk's first wave and the London riots of '76.  He's created album covers and posters for The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Blondie, The Who, AC/DC, Queen and Andy Warhol, among others.

April 24 will bring "Rockers," an installation by New York-based photographer, Bob Gruen, exhibiting images from John Lennon to The Clash.  The show's centerpiece will be a recreation of a punk-obsessed teenager's bedroom, circa 1970.  These shows are presented in association with The Max's Kansas City Project, an organization dedicated to providing emergency funding and resources to struggling artists.

June will bring "The Art of Motorcycles," featuring the works of photographers Timothy White and Barry Feinstein, focusing on their stunning images of iconic motorcycle artists Indian Larry and Von Dutch.

A Message of Support from Joe Berlinger

Post-inaugural Cinema Eye Honors' comments and feedback have been, for the most part, extremely supportive and positive, with a real sense of excitement among the international nonfiction community.  Starting with a "thank you" message on my phone from Outstanding Nonfiction Feature presenter, Barbara Kopple, the next morning, to posts from attendees like Yance Ford and Jason Guerasio, the timbre of comments has been upbeat, imbued with a sense that we've started something that, it is hoped, will have a long and prosperous life.  (Pictured from left: Jared Goldman, Jason Kohn and Joey Frank, accepting for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature for their film Manda Bala (Send a Bullet).)

Thom Powers, co-chair of Cinema Eye, shared with me the following email, sent to him and AJ the next morning from filmmaker Joe Berlinger, the  presenter, with his filmmaking partner, Bruce Sinofsky, for the Outstanding Achievement in Direction (the recipient was Alex Gibney for his Taxi to the Dark Side).

I asked Joe if I could post his email in its entirety here, and he was kind enough to say, yes, go ahead.  So here it is:

Dear Thom and AJ,

As a long-standing member of the documentary community, I just wanted
to congratulate you guys on an amazing achievement with the Cinema
Eye Awards.

For years, I, too, have lamented the documentary-consuming public's
confusion of subject matter versus craft when evaluating the quality
of a nonfiction film.  In the narrative (fiction) feature world, a
poorly made film on an "important" subject would be rejected as
inferior; yet in the world of documentary evaluation, too often a
film is validated in terms of its subject matter instead of its craft.

We know this dilemma well.  In our own way, we tried to break the
mold with "Brother's Keeper" in 1992 by fusing traditional verite
filmmaking with a conscious attempt to emulate fictional narrative
techniques without compromising the "truthfulness" of the material
being presented.   At the time, we were highly criticized for
attempting this cinematic approach to nonfiction filmmaking,
including our use of a heightened visual mode; an emotionally driven
score and an editing style that followed classic narrative (fiction)
structure.  We were also taken to task for our choice of subject
matter and for purposely creating an ambiguous portrait that raised
more questions than it answered and allowing the viewer to come to
his or her own conclusion about the guilt or innocence of Delbert Ward.

Despite winning the Audience Award at the 1992 Sundance Film
Festival, distributors did not know what to make of our film (it was
also a very different theatrical landscape back then, with very few
documentaries getting theatrical exposure.)  So, we rolled up our
sleeves for a year and successfully distributed the film ourselves,
defying the naysayers by believing there was an audience for quality
nonfiction that unfolded on the big screen like narrative fiction.

The point I am trying to make is this:  as one of the early pioneers
of the current new wave of nonfiction theatrical filmmakers with two
decades of hindsight, last night's celebration of outstandingly-
crafted films and the recognition that there should be no rules for
conveying cinematic truth represented a real milestone in the
evolution of the perception of nonfiction films.

I was honored to have been a small part of the evening, and I wish
you the greatest success with this endeavor.

Joe Berlinger

An Elegant Way to Say It All

Tuesday night's ceremony at the IFC Center to celebrate the inaugural Cinema Eye Honors included an award for Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Animation.  Congratulations, once again, to recipients Lewis Kofsky and Richard Winkler  of Curious Pictures for their work on Brett Morgen's Chicago 10.  You can see who the other nominees in this category were by clicking here.

Over at Media Rights, Shira Golding has written another excellent, extensive article, this time on Drawing Truth: Animation in Documentary.  Golding talks about the use of graphics and animation in several recent nonfiction films like Chicago 10, Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold's Blue Vinyl and Everything's Cool and Emily Hubley's feature-length directorial debut, The Toe Tactic, which just premiered at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival.  The film uses a combination of live action and animation to tell the story of a young woman's grief over her father's death.

Check out the article here.

A Magical Evening at the IFC Center

The fastest blogger in the west (even though he's still on the east coast), and founder and co-chair of the Cinema Eye Honors, AJ Schnack, has already posted the winners from last night's inaugural ceremony.

Last night was what passes for a star-studded evening in documentary and independent film at the IFC Center in the West Village.  The house was packed with nominees, special guests, presenters, filmmakers, distributors, festival programmers and nonfiction film fans.  We had nominees in from South America, Europe and South Africa and our presenter roster was absolutely stellar.  It was everything we wanted it to be--a real celebration.  With Karina Longworth twittering live from the event and a lead story off indieWIRE this morning, we were well-represented by our favorite press peeps, too.  I had such a wonderful time and am so proud of AJ and Thom--they were fantastic hosts and were supported and congratulated by every presenter and honor recipient that came up onto the stage.

Look for an edited version of the show appearing on AOL True Stories soon.  I'll continue to have updates on when the show will be broadcast.  Thank you to everyone who came out to help us launch the maiden voyage of Cinema Eye.  I feel so lucky to have been a part of it all.  Here's to a long life for the CEH!

Congratulations to Jason Kohn, Jared Goldman, Joey Frank, Heloisa Passos,  Doug Abel, Jenny Golden, Andy Grieve, Alex Gibney, Seth Kanegis, Tomas Radoor, Mikael Rieks, Curious Pictures, Pernille Rose Gronkjaer, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Jennifer Venditti and Seth Gordon, and to the rest of our incredible nominees.

Upcoming Season of STF Kicks Ass!

Thom Powers has managed to get an astounding line-up of presenters for the upcoming Cinema Eye Honors, so it doesn't surprise me that he's, once again, lined up a really stellar program for the next iteration of Stranger Than Fiction.

The series opens April 1 with Margaret Brown's wonderful Order of Myths.  I just saw this at True/False--you can read my review here.  Brown will be appearing in person for a Q&A.

Next up on the 8th is a sneak peek of Ondi Timoner's Join Us.  The director of Sundance's Grand Jury Prize winner, DIG!, will come with her new film about a cult recovery center.  This is the film's first NYC preview since its world premiere at last year's L.A. Film Festival.

On April 15 (yours truly's birthday and, also, alas, the dreaded Income Tax Day), there's Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography of Margaret Thatcher.  If there's a filmmaker to do an "unofficial bio" of anyone, it would be Nick Broomfield--he'll be there for a Q&A, too.  The controversial Broomfield once again displays his relentless pursuit of an unwilling subject a la Kurt & Courtney and Heidi Fleiss Hollywood Madam.

April 22 is a TBA program and the following week on the 29th, director James Marsh will appear with The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley.  I will see anything Marsh makes--his Man On Wire, which I also saw at True/False, was absolutely the most gorgeous film I've seen, just brilliant.  It's coming to theaters this summer--do not miss it.  The Burger film is from '96 and explores the good ole' USA from Elvis' home, Graceland, to Las Vegas, Nevada through the perspective of the King's eating habits (!).

May 6 brings another TBA film and guest, and then on the 13th, the legendary Barbara Kopple (presenting our Outstanding Nonfiction Feature honor next Tuesday), brings a rarely seen film, My Generation, about the 1990s version of the Woodstock music festival.

May 20 is another TBA, followed by Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist on the 27th.  This 2003 film explores the courageous work done by Haitian radio journalist Jean Dominque with music by Wyclef Jean (whom I adore beyond belief) and Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis.  Demme will be accompanied by producers, Peter Saraf and David Wolff, and Michele Montes, Dominque's wife. 

Closing night on June 3 (summer already????!!!), Albert Maysles will appear in person with Showman from 1963 and Psychiatry in Russia from 1955.  These are two of the Maysles brothers' earliest and most rarely-seen works.  What a treat to be able to see them with the legendary filmmaker in attendance.

You'll probably want to get one of those little red cards for all this; most screenings are sure to sell out.

Full Circle to Full Frame

April is my birthday month, so it's fitting that it's also the birthday month of this blog.  Yes, soon little SIM will be one year old and I will at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival to celebrate.  For it was there that this blog came into existence.  It's a rather weird story, but it was born out of necessity, we'll just leave it at that.  But I did have the guys from Nomadak Tx (one of my favorite films of '07) sing happy birthday to me at the closing night party, so that was muy especial.  Maybe I can get Werner Herzog or Phil Donahue to serenade me this year.

On April 3 - 6, downtown Durham, North Carolina will be the spot of the 11th iteration of this intimate, and important, festival and they just announced 15 docs that will screen in a special programming strand that will bring the likes of people like Donahue and Elvis Mitchell to town.

The opening night film will be the US premiere of Trumbo by director Peter Askin based on the play Trumbo's son, Christopher, (both pictured above) wrote about this blacklisted screenwriter of Spartacus and Roman Holiday.

A Center Frame screening will be Black List by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, one of my favorite portrait photographers.  In this film, Elvis Mitchell conducts interviews with 20 prominent African Americans like comedian Chris Rock, writer and national treasure, Toni Morrison and the Rev. Al Sharpton, among others.  The other Center Frame piece is Donahue and Ellen Spiro's Body of War.  I haven't had a chance yet to catch this so am looking forward to seeing it there.

A lot of the films in this curated strand have played festivals and theaters throughout the  past year.  There are also brand-new pieces like Nanette Burstein's award-winning, critically popular, American Teen (fresh from Sundance and True/False), and Lucia Small and Ed Pincus' Axe in the Attic (Lucia is in Paris with the film right now at the 30-year-old Cinema du Reel, one of the premiere international doc fests).  I saw this film at its debut at the New York Film Festival this past fall and was mighty impressed with their contribution to the Katrina archive.  There will also be a special free student screening of Lucy Walker's wonderful and brave Blindsight on Thursday morning (opening day), currently playing here in New York at the IFC Center.  Ed Pincus will also be bringing his Diaries (1971-1976) and Herzog brings his Encounters at the End of the World (an IDFA fave). 

I'm really looking forward to seeing Irina Salina's Flow: For Love of Water, Helen Trestikova's Marcela, and Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman, among others.

Throw in a couple of stellar sneak peeks and a slate of special guests, plus the wonderful low-key parties at local downtown venues and you've got yourself a pretty fine time down there in Raleigh-Durham.  I remember being struck at how amazing it was to see pretty much every documentary superstar there is in one small spot.  I'm also told by the press office that they now have a new press lounge with wireless (!) so I'll be blogging daily from there easily and effortlessly--well, easily. 

Cinema Eye Honors on the D-Word This Week

Check in here all this week to read more on the upcoming 1st Annual Cinema Eye Honors at the IFC Center next Tuesday, March 18.  Read the latest updates on presenters and nominees, and be sure to chime in on the conversation.  We'd love to dialogue with you and hear what you think.

The D-Word is an international online community of documentary professionals.  Thanks to Doug Block, Ben Kempas and John Burgan for hosting us!

TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE Theatrical Re-Release

Just got word from Sloane Klevin, editor of this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, that the film is getting a post-Oscar win re-release in theaters.  Below is a list of theaters at which the film's playing for a limited run.  The film's director, Alex Gibney, also just received the True Vision Award at the True/False Film Festival last week and is a nominee for a Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Direction.  We also just got news that Gibney has agreed to present the Audience Choice honor at our ceremony at IFC Center on the 18th.  Click here to cast your vote!

Taxi to the Dark Side Screenings:

Laemmle Music Hall (Beverly Hills, CA)
Nickelodeon 4 Theaters (Santa Cruz, CA)
Elmwood Rialto Cinemas (Berkeley, CA)
Opera Plaza Cinema (San Francisco, CA)
Lark Theater (Larkspur, CA)
Neighborhood Flix (Denver, CO)
Mariemont 3 Theater (Cincinnati, OH)
Main Art Theater (Royal Oak, MI)
Cedar Lee Theaters (Cleveland Heights, OH)
The Avalon Theater (Washington, DC)
Quad Cinema (New York, NY)
Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY)
Cinemart Cinemas (Forest Hills, NY)
Coolidge Corner Theater (Brookline, MA)

True/False Wrap-Up

I thought I'd better post one more time before T/F '08 is too much of a distant memory.  And for those attending SXSW, it probably already is.

Joel Heller of Docs That Inspire mentions something about the trailers that played before every movie and I'm glad he did because I felt the same way about them that he did--they're pieces of wonderful cinema in and of themselves, using local Mizzou talent.  You can check them out if you click on the link above.

I just want to mention some films I saw that really moved me, inspired me.  I always associate a film with the festival at which I saw it, particularly if it was so memorable.  And there's something really special about being in an audience that's seeing a piece at its very first exhibition.

A film I was really looking forward to seeing, even though it was still a work-in-progress (it will have its official debut at Full Frame next month) was Eric Metzgar's Life. Support. Music. (wonderful title).  I watched The Chances of the World Changing on PBS last year and knew that some really special people had made that movie.  And that turned out to be true.  I think one of Metzgar's strengths is that the man does not shy away from emotionalism--in his shooting, in his narration or in his ability to linger on a subject while they're experiencing acutely private moments.  That's a remarkable talent that we don't think about too often in the realm of nonfiction filmmaking, even though we're, generally, relying solely on our subject to feed us what we're after.  It's always a crap shoot (no pun intended), but if you're willing to be patient and not manipulate a situation too much, well, you get footage like Metzgar's.  Here's the synopsis from the program written by Jason Silverman (who, by the way, has attended every True/False fest since its inception):

Work in progress. Fast on his way to becoming a rock star, Jason Crigler's life as he knew it suddenly ended on stage on August 4, 2004. The singer-songwriter, who had performed with Linda Thompson, John Cale and Marshall Crenshaw, suffered a freak neurological incident that left him unable to care for himself or for his pregnant wife. Exploring similar terrain to Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Eric Daniel Metzgar follows up his True/False favorite Chances of the World Changing with another exquisitely filmed story of determination and destiny. Metzgar uses shatteringly intimate footage of the Crigler family, who never give up hope even during the darkest moments, and of Jason before and after the incident. By film's end, he has painted a poetic portrait that reveals the power of love, the indomitability of the human spirit and the undeniable healing properties of music. (JS)

I have a prejudice, both in narrative and nonfiction, towards liking films where the director's presence is palpable.  He or she doesn't necessarily have to be seen and heard, but I like feeling like I'm being led on a journey by someone who's paying attention and who can point the way towards things I never would have noticed, with facility, with unobtrusive grace.  Kind of like a good nature guide in the wilderness.  And Metzgar explores the wilderness of pain and loss so thoroughly, his work is suffused with pathos.  There's also strong narrative structure here that works beautifully, weaving together a love story, a family story, a man's coming-of-age story, a newborn's story and, of course, a story of triumph over extreme adversity.  Metzgar told the audience at the Q&A that he wrote, directed, produced, edited, etc., etc. the whole film himself because of "ego."  Half-joking yes, so the guy has ego.  My reasoning, after speaking with him a bit, is I think he did it all because of the love he has for his subjects and for the love he has for making movies.  When you love something like that, you're a little selfish with it--and that's okay.  That's my interpretation, anyway.

On the Welcome page of this year's T/F program guide, Paul Sturtz and David Wilson say that in their international search for films, they responded most enthusiastically to "films rooted in an observational style that dunked us head-first into the heart of the matter, without too much explanation or commentary."  The Mosquito Problem (and Other Stories) fits this description to a T.  Andrey Paounov (Georgi and the Butterflies) and Lilia Topouzova are Bulgarians who have crafted an ode to a strange, largely untraveled part of their country that is so infested with mosquitoes because of its proximity to the river, it's a universal obsession with the townspeople of how to eradicate them, or just live peaceably with them.

The town of Belene could have been used for the set of Twin Peaks, let's put it that way.  Replete with prison, a nuclear power plant, a concentration camp, and trucks that spray huge clouds of DDT as they rumble down the residential streets (with small children on foot and on bikes following merrily behind and inside those poison clouds!), Belene could look and feel a little grim.  But these filmmakers make everything look so gorgeous, even the grim bits.  The camera work is so whimsical sometimes, it allows the viewer to look at this small world with a tenderness this place wouldn't evoke in reality, probably.  Topouzova, appearing in person at the screening, said that she could only stomach several weeks there and then would have to leave for a while.

Some stories are tragic, some are absurd, some are sinister and some are just slice-of-life moments that are thrilling because of their ordinariness.  People live here.  This is their home.  They're not flourishing, but they're not unhappy.  This film reminded me very much of one of the most elegiac films I've ever seen called Suite Habana (2004) where fly-on-the-wall moviemaking reaches new heights of poetry--small images exquisitely framed speaking volumes about a person or a place.  You need to be patient and quietly sit back and take it all in.  It's a much more passive mode than most people like in a nonfiction film, I guess, because I noticed many audience members squirming in their seats and looking at their watches.  But I loved every minute of it, even despite the guy in front of me with the biggest damn hair I've ever seen blocking the subtitles.   My neck hurt afterwards, but it was an incredibly satisfying movie-going experience.

I got to see Margaret Brown's The Order of Myths at the Blue Note theater venue where I would get to watch They Might Be Giants play live that night as the closing night show.  Before the film began, as per usual, there was a young busker (street musician) playing to the house.  Before each screening, audiences were treated to wonderful performances from musicians who had traveled from far and wide to play there.  This guy, a tall, skinny, bald-headed wunderkind, from Oregon, sang and played guitar and channeled Johnny Cash--he was captivating.  I ran into him later at a cafe--he looked so scared and vulnerable I bought one of his CDs for $20 to help get the boy back home to Eugene.  All you musicians out there listen up--when I'm filthy stinking rich, which should be any day now, I will support you ALL.

I was really excited to see Myths because a lot of filmmakers I know absolutely loved it at Sundance and so I knew it would be well worth seeing.  People were buzzing about it in Columbia, too.  I liked the film very much--it's pacing was beautifully executed.  You feel like you're on a ride, one on which, if you give up certain safety features, will take you to places where you think you might have visited once upon a time, but never really knew all that well.  I love the South--you can always find someone to be real frank with you about things.  While he's BEHIND A MASK!   Someone hooding themselves still really gives me the creeps and is still so strongly associated with that part of our country.

These folks are fascinating.  And Brown, being a southerner, can get inside the whirligig of "society" because that's, in essence, her legacy.  She begins and ends the film with her grandfather (we don't know who he is until the end, which I thought was a really nice touch), but her mother (Mardi Gras royalty, once its queen) is interspersed throughout only in photos.  She chose not to speak on camera.

I think after watching this movie, I can understand why she might not want to.  Life in Mobile, Alabama, where the film takes place during Mardi Gras, is hot, humid, claustrophobic.  Here's Paul Sturtz's synopsis:

Margaret Brown, who brought "Be Here to Love Me" about Townes Van Zandt to T/F in 2005, has returned to her childhood home in Mobile, Alabama, to tell a stylish tale of two cities. The backdrop is Mobile's Mardi Gras, the oldest in the United States. It's a source of pride for this southern city, but also a stew of racial issues that start with the historic slave trade and run right up to the still-segregated celebrations, complete with separate royalty and rituals. Rather than being heavy handed, Brown's observational style brings us into the thick of the baroque preparations, revealing the playfulness and dignity in each royal court, and introducing us to nuanced characters that burst off the screen and make us examine our relationship with other races. Melding European aesthetics to an American knack for story and punchiness, The Order of Myths is gloriously assured filmmaking and a touchstone of contemporary documentary. (PS) (Presented by the University of Missouri)

Those two words in the second to last sentence are so spot on: gloriously assured.  That's exactly the way Brown directs this film.  I saw the same tendencies in the other film I really liked crafted by a female director, Forbidden Lies.  So girls are kicking ass, what's new?  It's nice to see that it is not only acknowledged in this tiny world, it's celebrated.  A waif of a thing, Brown is alert but a bit cautious, like a deer.  I think that helps in her filmmaking because as easily as she can take charge at a location with thousands of people to shoot, she can also sneak away and have people talk to her open-heartedly one on one.  That's something that does take practice, I suppose, wafting back and forth between forms and methods.  But the more you mix it up, the more possibilities there are for creating your own unique palette. 

So, honestly, the take away from the whole shebang of T/F, for me, was this: it's the unique person who can lift his or her voice and not only be heard, but garner utmost respect by their community of peers for what he or she is saying and how they're saying it.  And being in a place like Columbia, hosted by Sturtz and Wilson, showed me that these ideals can be, for just a few days, actualized in spades and celebrated.

To close, I'm going to let my friend, Jordan Mattos, tell you about his experience watching Man On Wire.  Because I still don't think I could be coherent about it yet (slow burn, slow burn, I'm a slow burn, girl), I'm going to treat you to his beautiful essay on it.  Because he captures a bit of how I felt and because he's such a fucking great writer.  Enjoy.

Oh!  Almost forgot to mention--Cinema Eye Honors is hosting a D-Word forum next week starting Monday the 10th and running all week, so chime into the conversation.  We'd love to hear what you think of the new nonfiction honor idea--share, share.  If you're not a D-Word member, it's free to join, just gotta fill out a short form and you're in.  The ceremony's only a sobering 10 days away and we've got some stellar presenters and special guests.  Stay tuned for more as the days get closer.

 

Let's Get It On--Re-Creating Marvin Gaye DC-Style

Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation has a beautiful new restaurant/lounge dedicated to Marvin Gaye in the heart of DC.  My friend, Brian Liu, and his partner, Nick Pimentel were commissioned by Hilton to design something spectacular for the restaurant's centerpiece.  Here's a time-lapse film documenting the installation of their 6' x 10' masterpiece.  Check it out.

BLINDSIGHT Opens in New York

I saw Lucy Walker's Blindsight at the International AFI Film Festival in November of 2006 where it won an Audience Award.  It was also nominated for a Spirit Award last year for Best Documentary, among other accolades.  The film's producer, Sybil Robson Orr, is nominated for a Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Achievement in Production.

I'm not sure why it took so long to get its theatrical release here, but don't miss a chance to see this documentary as a movie-going experience--it's magnificent; one of the most uplifting films I've seen in a while.  The New York Times says that it features "exceptional people doing extraordinary things.  BLINDSIGHT is one of those documentaries with the power to make you re-examine your entire life."  That's pretty strong praise.

Six Tibetan teenagers set out to climb a 23,000 foot mountain.  These teenagers are also completely blind.  In Tibetan society, because of their handicap, they are shunned by their families and their villages--in other words, personally blamed for their "affliction."  They attend a school founded by Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Sabriye Tenberken, who's also blind, and with her partner, Paul Kronenberg, also founded the international organization, Braille Without  Borders--"the right to be blind without being disabled."  Inspired by blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer's conquest of Mount Everest, the students invite him to visit their school.  He talks them into embarking upon a three-week climb with him.  Walker accompanies them with her camera crew.  Do you see why you might want to see this on the big screen?

The film opens this Friday (tomorrow) at the IFC Center and Sabriye Tenberken will be there in person at the 8:05 show.  On Saturday, director Lucy Walker also makes an appearance, same screening time.

I've been a fan of Walker's since I saw her first feature doc called The Devil's Playground (2002) about Amish teens experiencing their rumspringa (literally meaning "running around"), their "free year" of basically leaving the fold and doing things that are not allowed in their closed society--having sex, drinking, doing drugs, driving cars, living on their own, and experimenting all over the place.  At the end of this time, they have to choose whether to come back into the Amish society's fold and live according to its ethos, or be banished from it.  Forever.  It's intense and wonderfully done. 

Click here for Blindsight's screening dates and times.

Aussie Filmmaker, Anna Broinowski, Visits Columbia

In my last post, I mentioned a film called Forbidden Lies, a character study of a woman who wrote a book called Forbidden Love, about an honor killing in Jordan, a publishing phenom.  A girlhood friend of the author's (Norma Khouri), had been murdered by a male family member because she was seen with a man out in public who wasn't her husband.  This is where the story begins and ends--with this life.  A life that might be made up, true, partly true, partly false?  You're never sure up until the end.  And even then.  The film is the True/False poster child this year. 

Right before this, I was with Brent Hoff and Mike Plante to see The Mother.  Before that incredible movie started, I got a private viewing on an iPod of a short about these wack snowglobes, so I was already primed for an intense evening.  I was meeting Ingrid to go see Forbidden Lies at another venue and Brent told me he was doing the Q&A. 

We walked over to the Macklanburg Theater and went over to talk to Anna who was sitting quietly on a bench.  She didn't look it, but she was completely and utterly knackered from something like a 34-hour trip or some crazy thing.  I was interested to see what we were in for after meeting her in person and having heard all the talk about how good the film was. 

I think after you make your fifth film, it being your fifth documentary!!, and you're accomplished and recognized by your peers at home and growing an international audience, it's time to stretch your wings.  Broinowski is a limber filmmaker; she did her stretches diligently and now is, obviously, ready to go new places with her storytelling.

I have to admit, I was pissed through most of the first 15 to 20 minutes of the film.  I think it was because I felt I was being toyed with and I don't like that; it felt too much like watching a TV commercial.  And then something happens that's so absurd and ridiculous, and you suddenly realize you're with a, possibly, totally untrustworthy journeywoman.  And her main character's even worse!

You can read the synopsis of the film here (don't be lazy, inform yourself),  and even though Jason Silverman writes a wicked synopsis, it doesn't really prepare you for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Your heart is beating a bit fast because the film is fast-paced and disorienting--sticking with the Disney theme, it's the teacup ride; you know, the one that makes you throw up your cotton candy?  Your heart is also beating harder because you know you're seeing highly exciting and innovative cinema.  The Australians do have a skewed view of the world, but it's a generous one, encompassing brash cinematic pyrotechnics (I saw an Australian film in Amsterdam called Night directed by Lawrence Johnston and shot by Laurie McInnes that was breathtaking) with a snarky, curled-lip smile.  With a wink and a nod, the director is  reassuring the audience that we're in on the joke.  Oh, wait, no we're not.  Yes, we are.  Like that.

There are parts of this film that are, frankly, nauseating.  This film may also cause outrage, indignation, confusion and self-doubt.  See your doctor if symptoms recur.  It must be something about getting older, opening up a little bit and letting some air into your life, that makes me embrace movie-going experiences that move me really deeply.  I'm sorry, watching Matt Damon go vroom-vroom on various conveyances for two hours is just not a fucking movie.  This is a movie.  And yes, it could play in a theater.  And yes, it could get butts in seats.  And yes, if marketed properly, could probably vie with Moore on the box office bonanza scale.  Interested in seeing it?  I bet you are.

I'll have an interview on SIM with Anna coming up shortly.  Thank you, Paul Sturtz, for finding this film for us Yanks to watch.  Interesting lesson.

If my "review" was too enigmatic for you, The Culture Matters Blog has a fantastic post on the film you can read.  More from T/F when I next come up for air. 

2008 True/False Film Festival--Managing Reality. Beautifully.

Asked by a first-time filmmaker to define what he does when he's directing  a nonfiction project, Hugo Perez, whose latest work-in-progress, Summer Sun, Winter Moon, played at this year's fest, replied, "I manage reality."

Paul Sturtz and David Wilson are the dynamic duo of all dynamic duos and did a bang-up job of doing just that.  Festival co-directors since its inception five years ago, they and their staff and hundreds of volunteers help bring the best of world nonfiction cinema to their small Missouri town.  Agnes Varnum calls it "an international doc outpost masquerading as a regional festival."  From the welcome letter you receive upon your arrival to the friendly, smiling faces that greet you everywhere you go (okay, the night manager at the Regency Hotel was always a bit grumpy), you feel at home pretty darn quickly.  And the fact that you're in the heartland of this country gives it a resonance for both American and foreign filmmakers and artists, that it just would not have were it in, or near, New York City or Los Angeles.  Nonetheless, it's become, very rapidly, a destination for documentary lovers. 

And the programming.  Superb.  Really superb.  Wilson and Sturtz both rocket around the planet sniffing out what's interesting, engaging, artistically fierce in vision and craft, and bring it back home.  They are both deeply embedded in community and want to be part of this idea that there can be an important cultural center someplace else besides the usual suspects.  They actively enrich the place they call home by bringing artists and musicians and filmmakers from all over the world to come play in their sandbox for a bit.  Suffice to say, the two got a standing ovation at the closing night film, the fresh-from-Sundance Man On Wire, (more on that in a future post when the lump in my throat that that film evoked goes down in size a bit so I can speak about it intelligently) from 1,200 folks--filmmakers, guests, press, industry and local community, all intertwined.  And passionate about film, these local community people.  Because it's something that two of their native sons have embraced.  And so they embrace it, too.

What can I tell you?  I cried a lot; I was constantly moved by it all.  The two young men are well-liked, well-respected and well-versed in the ways of mixing high art with down-home warmth.  It's a potent combination.  I cried the whole last day I was there from just sheer joy at being part of a community like that, even if it was just for four days.  No wonder festivals are addictive to the indie filmmaker.  Instead of all hanging out at Starbucks "reading scripts," they actually create little communities in various places for a little while, and if that community is smart, they'll come out and mingle with those people from other lands and check out what they brought for show-and-tell.  And they do a hell of a yearbook--their  superstar printed piece becomes a keepsake, helping you remember what you saw, who was there and why it mattered so much.  And that, even though you're middle-aged you can still stay up all night partying and look glorious the next day.  (Admittedly a stretch that last bit.)

So on to the films and panels so I can tell you what I saw, heard, felt during those four wonderful days in Columbia.  Oh, did I forget to mention that it was also about 70 degrees and sunny with gentle winds?  It almost got kind of Cannes-like, without the red carpet bullshit.

Now I don't know the protocol here about premieres and all that so I'll say that some of what I saw there will be at South by next week and have been uncannily picked already by my friend Agnes as SXSW potential faves.  She's a smart girl.  I kept wishing she was there.  I'll miss the Austin par-tay, too, because of other niggling duties I have to attend to here in New York.  So I guess we'll see one another in Marfa, girlfriend!  Whoo hoo.

The advice I'd give every first-time festival-goer, is very first thing after putting away your stuff, go see a film.  So at 6:30 p.m., shortly after arriving, I found myself sitting in the Forrest Theater at the Tiger Hotel all tarted up for festival days.  The hotel was tarted up.  Not me.  What I saw was a film called Sons of a Gun, a work-in-progress by filmmakers, Rivkah Beth Medow and Gregory O'Toole.  It took O'Toole a while to hop on board and one can see why--very dicey proposition to go and steep yourself in an environment that could be called a "crazy house."  Containing, so their main character, says, a sawed-off shotgun.  Okay, we can call that brave.  The thing is, the caretaker of the bunch is the sickest of them all.  He is the one man among three others who looks just plain beaten-up.  Even though one character has no teeth and is gray and wrinkled, because of his limited "socialization," he looks like a child, a wondering child.  But wise like one, too.  It's a really fascinating character study with really nice interaction between interloper and potential collaborator in some organic film project.  It's a really brave camera in front of that brave filmmaker.  It lingers and moves to places that, clearly, we are not meant to see.  There's something so satisfying and terrifying about that, all at the same time.  And that's what this film is about--the satisfaction of connection.  And oddly, this seemed to be an unconscious theme of the festival, almost.  Almost every film I saw had some kind of family struggle at stake in it.  Almost every one.  Coincidence?  Who knows?  Who cares?  It was great stuff. 

Then, honestly, a proper dinner with friends which we richly deserved since we ate nothing but crap all day long.  So instead of bolting to another film (a bit of guilt for that too!), we decided to order more wine and chill out for a minute and talk about the coming days and how excited we were to be there.  The town is filled with really cozy places to sit and eat but you have to get there early if you want to eat like a grown-up.  Otherwise, it's join the kids at El Rancho for a burrito the size of your head, or Hot Chix.  I have to write about Hot Chix--I'm sorry.  I had all kinds of fried things at midnight.  And I was with other people who did the same thing.  Yikes.

Next up, at 3:00 the next day--I was working on the Cinema Eye Honors yearbook on a beautiful sunny day up until then. Thanks to Joel Heller,  here's the picture to prove it.  But at three, it was quits to get something in FedEx (did we get a tracking number?) and go have some fun.  There was a panel called "Instant Soundtrack," with T. Griffin and, my new hat-wearing, friend who's always clothed for any eventuality the evening might bring, Ionic Fujanic.  The first conversation I had with him over the phone left me, literally, breathless.  I had to take some air--the guy spins out one fantastic idea after another.  It's a bit disconcerting but charming, nonetheless.  And you learn a hell of a lot, too.  This panel was nice because there were just two artists up there sharing their craft with an audience, because due to Mac-badness, they can.  So there's no moderator, no multi-panel thing going on--just an exchange, a peek inside someone's creative process.  They were wonderful.  Ionic will be DJing our ceremony at the IFC Center on March 18.  You'll be able to see a taped (and edited) version of it on AOL.  Did we forget about those pesky  little "rights" again??  The young artists at this year's True/False are a group that worships those artists from which they borrow--it's not vampirism, people, it's respect!

And I know this is shocking news, but I decided to miss the Mucca Pazza in the March on March in order to go see a film.  I saw Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostamarov's The Mother.  Not light fare--holy crap.  The two exquisite filmmakers follow a woman with nine children and film her domestic scene so intimately it makes you squirm (I love that!).  These characters are filmed in every sort of human moment you can think of.  It's really satisfying that way and yes, it feels like stalking.  All the best docs do, that's just the way it is, we don't know why. I think some scenes were a bit shocking for me.  Maybe at some other time I would be amused by it?  No, not too many people were laughing.  You could if  you wanted to.  But you'd be unpopular.  So quietly, respectfully, we watched this story unfold. And unfold it does, infinite times in its 80 minutes.  It was curious because when he introduced himself, the filmmaker said he considered it long.  But he's European, so what does he know of economy?  It turns out he knows a lot.  That's the sign of a true artist, I think.

Are we going for a back-to-back and force ourselves to watch an equally intense film called Forbidden Lies?  There was already buzz and it was day two, okay?  News travels fast.  Can you see why these festival programmers are the people that should decide what's good and what's not?  Suffice to say in my next post, I'll fill you in on the wicked ways of Norma and Anna.  They went the Thelma and Louise route but did a film instead of driving off a cliff together.  This film toyed with audiences' expectations festival-wide and pushed the form with wit and intelligence.  We all loved it.

And then we partied.  The End.

 

Little Fest on the Prairie

Here I am, finally, in Columbia, MO, home to the True/False Film Festival hanging out with many friends and meeting new ones.  I love talking to new filmmakers--the excitement and the palpable sense of a new future unfolding for them is wonderful to see.   And this is a very sweet place to have a debut.

A real quick first post from here (third day already!) because the deal is that I still haven't mastered the art of full-court reportage/blogging while I'm attending festivals like stellar bloggers AJ Schnack and Karina Longworth.  I just really don't want to take the time to sit somewhere for a few hours and write when I can be seeing a film (never before seen) or talking to a filmmaker or hanging out at a local cafe talking about films with friends and colleagues.  Or eating corn poppers at Hot Chicks at midnight.

And I feel, too, that the films I see and the experiences I have deserve more than a rushed or perfunctory "review."  Things need time to percolate with me, anyway--drip, drip, drip, bubble, bubble. 

After an uneventful flight to Kansas City, Missouri on Thursday, I traveled a couple of hours across the state to Columbia, hopping on the filmmaker van with fellow New Yorkers, Ingrid Kopp and Jesse Epstein.  Ingrid is pulling post-screening filmmaker Q&A duties at one of the many splendid venues here (for the record, the still is from one of Ingrid's faves "Girls Rock!" playing here).

Jesse's last installment of her body image shorts, 34x25x36, is playing here in the Working Title program, as is first-time filmmaker, Stephen Hyde's Shika Shika. 

Must dash--will be able to share more when I can take a breath but I've already seen some amazing films.  Tons of people are here (this fest has grown tremendously since its debut five years ago) so need to get my spot in line for panels, screenings and other fun events.