Still in Motion

Camden Film Fest and P.O.V. Host THE WAY WE GET BY's New York Début

Last night at Thom Powers' top-notch screening series, Stranger Than Fiction, Aron Gaudet's deeply moving, beautifully realized debut feature, The Way We Get By, was co-presented by the Camden International Film Festival.  The festival's co-founders, Leah Hurley and Ben Fowlie, got in on the action early by recognizing a jewel-in-the-rough and showed a work-in-progress screening at their nascent nonfiction fest in Maine last fall; they've been championing this Bangor-based story ever since.  The other co-host was PBS' P.O.V. which will be broadcasting the film's television premiere some time at the end of this year.  (Keep checking local listings and this blog for updates).  Despite the fact that the Tribeca Film Festival is currently in full swing, it was an STF sell-out, as usual, with the filmmakers on hand for a charming Q&A afterward, a drinks party and a dance party.

Gaudet and his producer (and, now, fiancée), Gita Pullapilly, both come from the world of local television news and spoke about the specific challenges and skills inherent in producing and directing a nonfiction feature.  This is one of those instances where the filmmaker enters into the story through a very personal connection (Gaudet's mother is one of the main subjects), and tells the story in an intimate and singular way.  But what he also manages to do is parse together  many key themes so engagingly and gracefully, making new and relevant discoveries about how a few citizens (people who by any other definition, including their own, are now marginal, and marginalized, members of society due to old age and infirmity) choose to move up and out of their own circumscribed lives to reach out to the young men and women still serving overseas in a largely unpopular war, hundreds of thousands of soldiers leaving and returning through the Bangor International Airport.  These seniors have remained on call, literally, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the past six years to greet and see off over one million US troops at the tiny local airport which happens to be a major military deployment hub. 

The Way We Get By offers a unique (and very quiet and unpolitical) look at the toll the Iraq war has been taking on the individual citizens and families that comprise this nation.  Through touch, a smile, an encouraging word (and Fireballs!), these seniors tell each and every soldier coming through the terminal how grateful they are for their sacrifice and service.

Moreover, the film also tells stories of what it's like to be old and lonely in this culture, the isolation and the feelings of uselessness and the emotional losses that come with old age.  We enter into the lives of 73-year-old Jerry Mundy, 75-year-old Joan Gaudet and, the subject that touched my heart most of all, 86-year-old Bill Knight--all brave and honest souls compelled to keep going directly because of the work they're doing.  With patience and sensitivity, Gaudet and Pullapilly allow their characters to help breathe new life into an issue we all think has been pretty much tapped out.  Gaudet presents these wonderful subjects, albeit a bit frayed and tired, with dignity and grace, all to a person containing a life-force that transcends everyday concerns to offer object lessons in how to be a human being.

The next stop on their festival circuit will be the Hot Docs festival in Toronto next week.  Don't miss the chance to see this film wherever and whenever you can. 

Kim Longinotto Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

Next month, May 7 - 23, the Museum of Modern Art will be staging a 14-film retrospective honoring multiple-award winning filmmaker, Kim Longinotto.  Longinotto has been building an extraordinary body of nonfiction cinematic work for the past several decades and is one of our most sensitive (and prolific) storytellers. 

Longinotto has spent the last thirty years of her life creating intimate portraits of extraordinary people from all over the world (still from her film, with Jano Williams, Shinjuku Boys, 1995).  The films featured in the retrospective present a diversity of subject matter, often from the perspectives of those we normally never hear from.  Longinotto will be in New York for the premiere of her Sundance World Cinema jury prize-winning Rough Aunties (2009), as well as throughout opening weekend.

The retrospective is organized by the MoMA department of film's assistant curator, Sally Berger, in collaboration with Women Make Movies, Longinotto's US distributor (they have all 14 films in their catalog), marking the first time that such a comprehensive look at her work has been staged in the States.  To see a full screening schedule and information for ordering tickets, you can either go to the MoMA site or click here.

Longinotto will also be teaching a Master Class at DCTV co-presented by WMM and DocuClub, Saturday May 9 from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., moderated by WMM's executive director, Debra Zimmerman.  It's $50 for DCTV and DocuClub members, $75 for all others.  Room is limited, so if you want to attend, you should RSVP soon to [email protected].  To read my wonderful conversation with Longinotto from last summer when she was cutting and finishing Rough Aunties in London, click here.

 

A Letter from Bahman Ghobadi About Roxana Saberi

Executive director of the Flaherty Film Seminars, Mary Kerr, just sent the following letter from filmmaker, Bahman Ghobadi, regarding the arrest, trial and conviction of his fiancée, journalist Roxana Saberi. Saberi was charged by Iranian authorities with espionage on behalf of the United States. 

At last year's Flaherty, which I attended as a Fellow, we participants were privileged to have two conversations via Skype with Ghobadi who was one of the featured artists that year.  Saberi sat beside him as his translator (pictured).  Ghobadi did not appear in person only because he had not been given permission to travel to the United States.  All of us agreed that it was one of the most extraordinary experiences we had there, one among many.

A website has been set up to campaign for her release and includes up-to-date information on the situation.  I would like to also share the open letter from Ghobadi which he wrote following Roxana's conviction:

"To Roxana Saberi, Iranian with an American passport"

If I kept quiet until now, it was for her sake. If today I speak, it is for her sake.

She is my friend, my fiancée, and my companion. An intelligent and talented young woman, whom I have always admired.

It was the 31st of January. The day of my birthday. That morning, she called to say she would pick me up so we would go out together. She never came. I called on her mobile, but it was off, and for two-three days I had no idea what had happened to her. I went to her apartment, and since we had each other's keys, I went in, but she wasn't there. Two days later, she called and said: "Forgive me my dear; I had to go to Zahedan." I got angry: why hadn't she said anything to me? I told her I didn't believe her, and again she said: "Forgive me my dear, I had to go." And the line was cut. I waited for her to call back. But she didn't call back. She didn't call back.

I left for Zahedan. I looked for her in every hotel, but nobody had ever heard her name. For ten days, thousands of wild thoughts came to my mind. Until I learned, through her father, she had been arrested. I thought it was a joke.

I thought it was a misunderstanding and that she would be released after two or three days. But days went by and I had no news from her. I started to worry and knocked on every door for help, until I understood what had happened.

It is with tears in my eyes that I say she is innocent and guiltless. It is me, who has known her for years, and shared every moment with her, who declares it. She was always busy reading and doing her research. Nothing else. During all these years I've known her, she wouldn't go anywhere without letting me know, nor would do anything without asking my advice. To her friends, her family, everyone that surrounded her, she had given no signs of unreasonable behavior. How come someone who would spend days without going out of her apartment, except to see me; someone who, like a Japanese lady, would carefully spend her money, and had sometimes trouble making a living; someone who was looking for a sponsor to get in contact with a local publisher so her book would be printed here (in Iran); could now be charged with a spying accusation?! We all know - no, we have all seen in movies - that spies are malicious and sneaky, that they peep around for information, and that they are very well paid. And now my heart is full of sorrow. Because it is me who incited her to stay here. And now I can't do anything for her. Roxana wanted to leave Iran. I kept her from it.

At the beginning of our relationship, she wanted to go back to the United States. She would have liked us to go together. But I insisted for her to stay until my new film was over. She really wanted to leave Iran. And I kept her from it. And now I am devastated, for it is because of me she has been subject to these events. These past years, I have been subject to a serious depression. Why? Because my movie had been banned, and released on the black market. My next movie was not given an authorization, and I was forced to stay at home. If I've been able to stand it until today, it is thanks to the presence and help that she provided me.

Since I had no authorization for my last movie, I was nervous and ill-tempered. And she was always there to calm me down.

Roxana wanted to leave Iran. I kept her from it. She is the one who took care of me while I was depressed. Then I convinced her to stay, I wanted her to write the book she had started in her head. I accompanied her, and thanks to my friends and contacts, I knocked on every door and was able to set up meetings with filmmakers, artists, sociologists, politicians, and others. I would go with her myself. She was absorbed by her book, to the point that she could stay and bear it all, until my film would be finished, and we would leave together.

Roxana's book was a praise to Iran. The manuscripts exist, and it will certainly be published one day, and all will see it. But why have they said nothing? All those who have talked, worked and sat with her, and who know how guiltless she is.

I am writing this letter for I am worried about her. I am worried about her health. I heard she was depressed and cried all the time. She is very sensitive. To the point she refuses to touch her food. My letter is a desperate call to all statesmen and politicians, and to all those who can do something to help. From the other side of the ocean, the Americans have protested against her imprisonment, because she is an American citizen. But I say no, she is Iranian, and she loves Iran. I beg you, let her go! I beg you not to throw her in the midst of your political games! She is too weak and too pure to take part in your games. Let me be present at her trial, sit next to her wise father and gentle mother, and testify she is without guilt or reproach.

However, I am optimistic about her release, and I firmly hope the verdict will be cancelled in the next stage of the trial.

My Iranian girl with Japanese eyes and an American ID is in jail. Shame on me! Shame on us!

2009 Pulitzer Prizewinners and Nominated Finalists

This just in:  the 2009 Pulitzer Prizewinners and Nominated Finalists are listed here.  Congratulations to these talented journalists, writers and poets.  And on a personal note:  yay, Holland Cotter and W.S. Merwin!

P.O.V. Call for Entries 2010

PBS's top-tier strand for independent, nonfiction films has opened their submission process for the 2010 season.  All subjects, styles and lengths are considered; however, please, please read the submissions guidelines and familiarize yourself with the kinds of works they show, if you haven't done so already.  They've spent over twenty years honing an incredibly fine sensibility and their standards are high.  In fact, series producer, Yance Ford, has a great post on what P.O.V. looks for in a film which you can read here.

All submissions need to arrive at the P.O.V. offices by Tuesday the 30th of June; anything sent in after that date will be considered for the following cycle, unless an extension is granted by the directors.  To familiarize yourself with the eligibility guidelines, click here.

Building Online Fan Bases--Scott Kirsner's Book Hits the Airwaves

Just out this month: Fans, Friends & Followers, a book about how creatives can build audiences for their work online while creating sustainable business models for themselves.  Kirsner, editor of CinemaTech, falls under the "guru" category when it comes to this stuff, and in his new book he presents some strategies through interviews and encounters with various artists who are (digitally) making a shekel or two from their works.  For as we know, for the most part in this day and age, the onus of survival and sustainability rests upon the shoulders of the musician, filmmaker, artist, writer, etc.

Kirsner's book is based on dozens of interviews with some of the artists pioneering new approaches to production, marketing, promotion, collaboration, and distribution on the Web.

The book features some new tools, techniques, and business models, along with thirty artist interviews, which include YouTube star Michael Buckley ("What the Buck"); the animators behind JibJab, Homestar Runner, and Red vs. Blue; video artist Ze Frank (“The Show”); comedian Eugene Mirman; singer-songwriters Jill Sobule and Jonathan Coulton; Damian Kulash of OK Go; filmmakers Robert Greenwald (Iraq for Sale) and Curt Ellis (King Corn); writers Brunonia Barry (The Lace Reader) and Lisa Genova (Still Alice); and artists Natasha Wescoat, and Dave Kellett.

The paperback is priced at $15.95; you can also purchase it as an E-book for $12.00 (it's 181 pages so you might want to have it on your bookshelf for reference).  It's available at Amazon.com, or you can purchase it directly from Kirsner's site by clicking here.  You will also be able to have access to a 35-page preview.

Docs Are Busting Out All Over

Finding and watching stellar long-form nonfiction films is getting easier and easier.  SnagFilms and YouTube have partnered and gone live on http://www.youtube.com/user/snagfilms, a site that features full-length documentary films selected from Snag's online library. 

For those of you who have still not discovered SnagFilms, it is an entity that brings the best of nonfiction films to audiences worldwide via the Web, promotes viral distribution through virtual movie theater widgets, and encourages audiences to participate in charitable and community efforts based on the films they watch and love.  (I'm sure most of you know about YouTube, unless you've been, literally, living in a cave.)

In addition to being able to find films via YouTube's search feature, users will be able to visit the SnagFilms channel to see listings from its extensive library.  SnagFilms will split the revenue it receives from the accompanying commercials with the filmmakers and increase exposure of the incredible nonfiction fare most of you are missing out there.  Hurray.

IFP Announces Filmmaker Lab Documentary Lineup

Ten nonfiction projects in rough cut stage have been selected to participate in IFP's Independent Filmmaker Lab, a mentorship program for projects below $500K that are feature directorial debuts.  The program was created five years ago as a one-year fellowship, matching up creative teams with industry folk who can help with post-production, festival and post-festival strategies, and beyond.  Each fellowship allows three participants per project.

Since its inception, about 57% of the participating projects have been completed and gone on to premiere at major US and international festivals; 24% have reached wider audiences via theatrical exhibition, DVD distribution and/or television broadcast.  Milton Tabbott, IFP's senior director of programming and supervisor of the Doc Lab says, ". . . a first solo feature is always a big step, and in today's economy and shifting media landscape, it's more important than ever to enter that fray with the best possible work, informed about options.  That preparation is a large part of what the Labs do."

The selected projects and Fellows for the 2009 Lab are:

Beijing Taxi - Intimate stories of three cabbies connect a morphing cityscape and tales of citizens coping with the dizzying pace of change accelerated by the 2008 Olympics. Miao Wang (Director, Producer, Editor).

Casino Nation - After a long and bloody struggle, the Seneca Nation of Indians now owns one of the most lucrative casinos in the world.  Is this a new beginning…or the end of days? Laure Sullivan (Director, Producer, Editor), Terry Jones (Director, Producer), Paul Wilson (Director Producer, DP).

An Interview with Simone Weil - A journey to understand the controversial French philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943) becomes a reflection on the complex role of documentarians in today’s world. Julia Haslett (Director, Producer, Editor), Fabrizia Galvagno (Producer).

Land of Opportunity – A chronicle of the historic and tumultuous rebirth of a great American city, New Orleans, through the eyes of those on the front lines. Luisa Dantas (Director, Producer, Editor), Rebecca Snedeker (Co-producer).

Our House -- In an industrial warehouse in New York City, three young political radicals form an underground squatter community for the homeless – all in the name of Jesus Christ. Greg King (Director, Producer, DP, Editor), David Teague (Director, DP).

Paul Goodman Changed My Life - About one of America’s most important social thinkers, whose Growing Up Absurd ushered in the 1960s, opening up a new world for its young readers. Jonathan S. Lee (Director, Producer), Kimberly Reed (Editor), Robert Hawk (Associate Producer).  (Goodman, pictured above)

The Road to Nasiriyah -- The struggle to document the looting at Iraqi archaeological sites following the 2003 war ends with the kidnapping of an American journalist and his Iraqi interpreter. Marie Hélène Carleton (Director, Producer, Writer, DP, Editor), Micah Garen (Director, Producer, Writer, DP, Editor).

Texas Heart - Bridging non-fiction with science fiction, the film follows two surgeons as they prototype a pulse-less artificial heart, creating a new physiology for the post-human future. Treva Wurmfeld (Director, Producer, Writer, DP, Editor).

Twelve Ways to Sunday -- Set in the poverty belt of Western New York, a film about sharing stories when there is little else to share. Anna Farrell (Director, Producer, DP, Editor).

War Don Don – A chronicle of the rise and fall of a former rebel leader in Sierra Leone. Through his trial, a nation faces its wartime past. Rebecca Richman Cohen (Director, Producer), Francisco Bello (Producer, Editor).

Congratulations to all the Fellows.  We're all waiting with anticipation to see your masterpieces.

Two Stars Rising

When it rains, it pours.  Congratulations to filmmakers Gabriel Noble and Marjan Tehrani for their two fabulous co-productions whose debuts are happening (almost) simultaneously.  They brought their first child into the world just the other day, an Aries so she's bound to kick ass, of course.  Every father should greet his daughter in such millinery splendor!

As for their other co-production: next week their latest feature documentary, P-Star Rising, will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival which starts on Tuesday.  I've been impressed with Gabe's directing chops and intense dedication to his projects ever since seeing Autumn's Eyes, a hugely underrated nonfiction gem, co-directed with Paola Mendoza (who is debuting her latest feature narrative, Entre Nos, at the fest as well with co-director, Gloria LaMorte).  You can watch Autumn's Eyes now on Snag. 

An interview with Noble about the film is featured in today's edition of indieWIRE, and he will also be appearing at the Apple Store Soho on Monday, April 27 at 6:30 as part of the chat series there during TFF.

Acting as producer for P-Star, Tehrani is no slouch in the directing department.  I first got to know her after seeing an extract of her film, Arusi Persian Wedding, as part of a composing workshop at True/False hosted by T. Griffin and Michael Furjanic.  Furjanic furnished the sound design for Tehrani's film and I promptly invited them both to come to Dubai to show it there.  You can read my conversation with Marjan about the making of Arusi here.

Come out and see P-Star.  There are several screenings at the fest (although just received news that opening night is already sold out), as well as a free outdoor screening in Battery Park on the 25th.

12th United Nations Association Film Festival Call for Entries

This fall from the 17th through the 25th of October, UNAFF will host its 12th iteration in Palo Alto, California.  The cities of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and San Francisco, and Stanford University, celebrate international documentary films about human rights issues, the environment, immigration, famine, homelessness, and a slew of other topics important to us all.  This year's theme is called "Energy & The World."

They're now accepting submissions in 16mm and 35mm, Beta SP and (NTSC) DVD formats. The early deadline is May 25, the regular one is June 1, and the late deadline is June 9.  Click here for submission details, entry fees and other info.

Joyriding in Pleasantville: Or the Perils of Pamela

If, on the day before your birthday, you find yourself driving around in your cousins' Jeep at 9:00 a.m. on a weekday downing two cups of coffee, 1/2 a tuna sandwich, 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese and an apple fritter--in less than 30 minutes--and, at one point, literally driving around in circles in the Shop-Rite mall's gigantic parking lot (where said fritter consumption occurred before circling back home), you are in deep shit. 

(That's me and my sister--the Peanut--in  front of the childhood manse in a much more innocent, bucolic time.  Maybe I should get bangs again.)

I've been an independent producer/writer (freelancer, whatever you want to call it) for years, decades, even.  I know the drill.  Long periods of drought, nothing much going on, and then a nice chunk of work comes through for several weeks, maybe even a few months, if you're lucky.  You work on something cool with really cool people.  You learn a lot.  And then when that fallow period hits, it's all right because you've got some loot in the bank, the weather's great and there are eight film festivals to attend in the next three weeks and your swag inventory is low.  Or you just decide to strap on a backpack and go explore something.

I'm finding myself in a hell of my own making (apparently) and thought this would be a good time to reflect on finding myself where I do, close on two years after moving back to New York to kick ass and have a cocktail or two with the mayor.  But New York is a solid town; it's been around a while as a world leader and hot spot for artists and it basically doesn't give a fuck if you show up.  Get in line.

I'm not young, I'm not rich (or have parents who are), I didn't go to Tisch or Columbia or The New School; I'm an arriviste, but a bit too late to the dance.  There is no earthly reason why I should work my ass off for so long, making about $20K over the course of two years, tops, and not have anything to show for it. 

Yes, I've made bad financial and lifestyle decisions (moving to an overpriced loft in Bushwick, ahem), and invested way too much in "business development" (loosely translated as going through most of your personal funds to be where the action is--or where the action you think you want to be a part of is--or something like that).  My mother told me over the phone a couple of weeks ago that she and my father were very concerned about what was going to happen to me when they were no longer around.  This is just horrible, really.

But I've traveled and worked in Dubai, London, Oxford, Tehran, Helsinki, Italy, Greece, and Damascus in less than a year.  Hey, I even lived in Fort Greene for a while, not too shabby.  And I've met loads of people I was thrilled to meet and relished the pleasure of them knowing my face and name, in return.  I hang out with Janet Maslin, for goodness' sakes, at the beautiful Jacob Burns Film Center several times a month where she interviews the super stars of the independent film world and where the audience, appropriately, gushes at the opportunity to sit in the same room with people who shine.  I've spent a lot of time doing that, too.  I've honed a distinctive voice that resides in the ether of the Internet and is there to be read for the lucky sods who stumble upon it, and thank you from the bottom of my cold, black heart to all those who've let me know that I have fans.  That's really nice to hear.

As a birthday present to myself, I went ahead and filled out and submitted an application to a very prestigious place for a residency, feeling (on a good day) that I might have a shot at a spot there along with all those other incredibly talented people that go and do their creative thing.  Mailed off this morning.

But I'm also fucking lonely and want more than anything to work with people again.  I adore my own company, but enough is enough.  And, I want to be paid for my talents and my efforts.  Not a lot, but, my god, something.  I'm not a charity case.  Oh, but wait a minute, apparently I now am.  And, honestly, I want the hell out of suburbia.  New York City needs me.  And think of all the Stranger Than Fiction screenings I'm missing; it's a crime.

Being whipsawed between Pollyanna optimism that my golden goose is going to come waddling around the corner any minute and dire despair that I'm a middle-aged wash-up that will be working at 7-11 when I'm 86 (not that there's anything wrong with that--go, granny) is probably something that most people go through.  Most thinking people, anyway.  Why am I spending my life chasing after quixotic dreams at my age?  Why am I still slogging through all alone?  Why am I broke--again?

To paraphrase Peter Wintonick when he said, "Don't ask what your local film festival can do for you; ask what you can do for your local film festival":  Don't ask what a film blogger can do for you; ask what you can do for a film blogger.

Meanwhile, I'll keep wearing my T-shirt that says, "Will review, praise and/or draw attention to your work of genius for the sheer love of it."  Matching undies sold separately.  Happy birthday to me.

Read Me Over at the IDA's E-zine

documentary.org just published the latest edition of its comprehensive e-zine.  My coverage from attending the 11th Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival is up, and just a click away--happy reading.

Film still from the award-winning Greek film, National Garden (Ethnikos Kipos).

Browne's Picks for Tribeca '09 Fest

Independent producer Jim Browne has been programming for Tribeca for the last four years and he sent some of his recommends.  I wanted to share those here since I think Jim has exceedingly good taste:

About Elly  World Narrative Feature Competition; Feature Narrative, 2009, 119 min, directed by Asghar Farhadi.  A group of old college pals reunites for a weekend adventure on the sea, but compounding lies and deception quickly lead to catastrophe. Everyone hopes Sepideh's new friend Elly will hit it off with Ahmad, newly divorced from his German wife and in search of an Iranian bride, but Elly disappears on the second day, plunging the group into a complex mystery.  Asghar Farhadi took the Best Director prize at Berlin.

American Casino  Discovery; Feature Documentary, 2009, 89 min, directed by Leslie Cockburn. 

Politicians and the media like to talk about the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street, but investigative journalist Leslie Cockburn's debut feature gets to the guts of the matter, visiting defectors from Bear Stearns and Standard & Poor's and other high-level players in the subprime mortgage gamble and, on the flipside, visiting the working-class Americans who were the unwitting chips on the table.

Antoine  Showcase; Feature Documentary, 2008, 82 min, directed by Laura Bari.

Antoine was born 100 days premature and became blind from the effects of his incubator. Now five years old, he uses a mini boom microphone to discover and capture the sounds around him. Through this visually striking portrait, expertly crafted by Laura Bari, we share both the everyday and imaginary worlds Antoine lives in and learn how he overcomes adversity by creating his own alternative universe of beauty.  (Filmmaker and subject, pictured above.  I will be reviewing this on Hammer to Nail soon--gorgeous film.)

Black Dynamite  Spotlight; Feature Narrative, 2008, 90 min, directed by Scott Sanders.

All you suckas gather round. This glorious '70s blaxploitation throwback is a fistful of chase scenes, gunfights, kung fu, pimps, and hos. Michael Jai White plays Black Dynamite, the smoothest, baddest mother to ever pick up a pair of nunchucks. When the CIA gives back his license to kill, Black Dynamite makes it his mission to keep smack out of orphanages at any cost. Can you dig it?

Con Artist  Discovery; Feature Documentary, 2009, 80 min, directed by Michael Sládek.

One of the biggest names in the East Village art scene of the '80s, "business artist" Mark Kostabi gleefully made a fortune signing and selling artworks painted by a revolving stable of hired hands. This punk-fueled docu-comedy looks at Kostabi's ultimately self-destructive skewering of the celebrity art world and his current obsession with getting back on top.

Fish Eyes  Showcase; Feature Narrative, 2009, 78 min, directed by Wei Zheng.

Set during the 2008 Olympics on the outskirts of Beijing, first-time filmmaker Zheng Wei's beautiful and poetic portrait of modern China tells a simple but poignant story about a father, son, and mysterious young woman that subtly explores the physical and psychological tensions that exist in a land where emerging capitalism and accelerating modernization are rapidly overtaking traditional values.

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi  World Documentary Feature Competition; Feature Documentary, 2008, 84 min, directed by Ian Olds.  (Also a Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund recipient.)

In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Naqshbandi was one of Afghanistan's best "fixers"—someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories. This gripping, tragic story is a behind-the-scenes look into the dangerous and unseen world that happens before we get the news.

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench  Discovery; Feature Narrative, 2009, 82 min, directed by Damien Chazelle.

First-time director Damien Chazelle infuses his black-and-white, 16mm vérité-style relationship drama with all that jazzy romance of an old-Hollywood musical. Backed by a grand, alternately rollicking and melancholy score, Guy and Madeline tracks a pair of young lovers in Boston after they separate, search for new romance, and perhaps find their way back to each other.

Here and There  World Narrative Feature Competition; Feature Narrative, 2009, 90 min, directed by Darko Lungulov.

Miserable middle-aged musician Robert suddenly finds himself homeless and in need of quick cash. He accepts an offer from a young, enterprising Serbian immigrant named Branko: Travel to Belgrade, marry Branko's girlfriend, and bring her back to New York. But while on the trip, Robert meets Branko's mother, discovers that happiness comes when least expected, and begins to question whether money or love would be the true cure to his ills. 

Masquerades  Showcase; Feature Narrative, 2008, 90 min, directed by Lyes Salem.

Mounir desperately puts on some big-shot swagger for his small Algerian village by spinning a fantastical fib that involves his narcoleptic sister Rym's engagement to a European business mogul. As things unravel into a tangled mess of jealousy and irrepressible desire, surprising alliances form that fundamentally shift the way of life for his entire community. 

Off and Running  Discovery; Feature Documentary, 2009, 78 min, directed by Nicole Opper.

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers—one mixed-race and one Korean—Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. Even so, she can't quell her curiosity about her biological African-American roots and decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she's always known. 

P-Star Rising  Discovery; Feature Documentary, 2009, 83 min, directed by Gabriel Noble.

In the early '80s, Jesse Diaz was a rising star in the hip-hop world. Now a broke single father in Harlem with two children to support, Jesse finds a shot at redemption in his nine-year-old daughter Priscilla Star, a precocious and immensely talented rapper. Director Gabriel Noble follows four years of father-daughter ups and downs as they navigate the grit and the glamour of the music biz.

Racing Dreams  World Documentary Feature Competition; Feature Documentary, 2009, 95 min, directed by Marshall Curry.  (Also a Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund recipient.)

What Little League is to baseball, go-karting is to auto racing. Oscar®-nominated director Marshall Curry (Street Fight) follows the exhilarating and emotional journeys of three top racers competing for the national championship. Three adolescents and their families must discover if they have the talent and dedication—and sponsorship dollars—to one day become NASCAR superstars.

Salt of This Sea  Showcase; Feature Narrative, 2008, 108 min, directed by Annemarie Jacir.

Brooklyn-raised Soraya (spoken-word artist Suheir Hammad) travels to Palestine to retrieve her grandfather's savings, frozen in a Jaffa bank account after his 1948 exile. Frustrated by unwieldy official policies, she sets out with friend/love interest Emad on a road trip for poetic justice into Israel—after which there is no return.

Seven Minutes in Heaven  World Narrative Feature Competition; Feature Narrative, 2008, 94 min, directed by Omri Givon.

A young woman struggles to reconstruct her memory of the events immediately following the Jerusalem bus bombing that took the life of her boyfriend and left her back badly scarred. Part memory play, part love story, and part metaphysical thriller, this startling debut feature announces Givon as a forceful storyteller and exciting new voice in international cinema.

Still Walking  Spotlight; Feature Narrative, 2008, 114 min, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Years of tension kept barely below the surface threaten to run over when two middle-aged children visit their elderly parents on the 15th anniversary of their older brother's accidental death. Patient, real-time pacing and a delightfully muted wit from the curmudgeonly old-timers highlight acclaimed director Kore-eda's (Nobody Knows) domestic drama.

Vegas: Based on a True Story  World Narrative Feature Competition; Feature Narrative, 2008, 101 min, directed by Amir Naderi.

Acclaimed director Amir Naderi applies his inimitable cinematic style to Vegas, a timely and complex fable about our current economic crisis. The film takes place away from the glittering strip of mega casinos, but the greed of Sin City is just as pervasive on the desert outskirts, where an otherwise happy family is thrown into turmoil after learning of a forgotten fortune that may be buried beneath their home.

Yodok Stories  World Documentary Feature Competition; Feature Documentary, 2008, 82 min, directed by Andrzej Fidyk.

Exposing subject matter notoriously shrouded in secrecy, this uplifting and sobering doc chronicles a group of North Korean concentration camp escapees and their contributions to a powerful musical based on their experiences. Blending interviews and scenes from the controversial stage show, director Andrzej Fidyk explores the atrocities they faced as prisoners—and the challenges they face while trying to express them through art.

DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase Call for Entries

The IDA is currently the only entity helping independent US nonfiction filmmakers qualify for Oscar--an exceedingly difficult thing to do under the best of circumstances. 

IDA's 13th annual DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcases, which take place in August in both Los Angeles and New York, has just posted their early bird deadline of April 14.  This program helps to qualify new feature and short nonfiction works for Academy Award consideration by providing participating filmmakers seven-day commercial theatrical runs in the LA and NY markets, shorts only screening in Los Angeles, per Academy requirements. 

There is more information here about consideration qualifications (which are, admittedly changing and morphing due to ongoing community demand for said changes).  It is the filmmaker's responsibility to submit his or her own application, with the IDA providing proof of advertisement, guide listings and theatrical runs for submission to the Academy prior to the Academy deadline. 

There is an online submission process to apply to the DocuWeeks program through Without a Box.  Entries must be made by midnight, May 11. The regular deadline is April 27 ($150); early bird deadline carries a fee of $100; and the final deadline fee on May 11 is $250.  Successful applicants are notified mid-June.

My Kind of Cooking Show

"A Chemical Lobotomy Is Not a Metaphor": GENERATION Rx

I have been waiting a long time for someone to make this film, so thank you very much, Mr. Kevin P. Miller, for doing so. 

It's one thing for an adult to consult with his or her physician and decide to pursue a course of pharmaceutical treatment to ameliorate anxiety, stress and other behavioral issues and "disorders" that are disrupting one's life (provided that one has decided that self-medicating with recreational drugs, alcohol and other substances isn't quite doing the trick).  It's a whole other thing when you have a huge population of children, well under the age of consent, drugged to the gills before they're even finished with grade school.  They are doomed.

There are many good things about this film, but the best thing, to my mind, is that Mr. Miller calls out the individuals who are most responsible for this national epidemic, uncovering classified documents that serve as unmitigated proof that leaders of the medical establishment, doctors and other health-care professionals heading up governmental entities, with loads of power and leeway, have knowingly caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, perjuring themselves in court, conducting and signing off on shady studies, and lining their pockets with untold amounts of money.  How in the hell these people sleep at night is a wonder.  Oh, but wait: they probably drug themselves silly, too.  How else to explain such sociopathic behavior?

The tainted science "research" that has allowed the pharmaceutical companies to, for all intents and purposes, run the medical establishment left me feeling queasy.  The US produces and consumes five times more methylphenidate (aka, Ritalin) than the rest of the world combined, according to a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) report from October of 1995.  This is a statistic from almost fifteen years ago; this is not a new phenomenon.  But in the past decade, we have certainly seen the ramifications of all this in massive amounts of school shootings, pre-teen and teenage suicide rates that continue to soar, and generations of  children not able to normally develop emotionally and thereby learn to cope with any of life's common (and regular) visscitudes.

Generation Rx explores how doctors, government officials and the media have extolled the benefits of psychiatric medications for children for decades and reveals how this phenomenon has changed (and damaged) Western culture.  It's a frightening tale of criminal conspiracy, abandonment of medical and human ethics and, worst of all, a sheer betrayal of generations of young people in our care--both at home and in school.  The film investigates the collusion between the pharma companies and their regulatory "watchdogs" at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).  But the hardest-hitting segments are the personal stories of real families, who after following the advice of their doctors and other caregivers, lost their children to suicide, otherwise healthy children given brain damaging drugs during vital stages of their growth and development.

Miller began this journey when he watched a video from 1991 with people testifying before FDA officials about the symptoms they had experienced with antidepressant medications.  They were testifying, specifically, about Prozac and how it led them, or people close to them, to suicidological tendencies, sometimes resulting in homicide/suicide scenarios.

Dr. Julian Whitaker, an extremely articulate and passionate advocate for alternative health and wellness practices, points up the irony of our "drug-free" school zones.  While the areas around our grammar and high schools are monitored vociferously for any sign of illegal drug use, inside these institutions children are lining up at the nurses' office to get their daily meds like in "a cuckoo's nest."

In 2006, Lisa Cosgrove and Sheldon Krimsky, (two of Miller's interview subjects) investigated, uncovered and reported on the financial ties between DSM-IV panel members and the pharmaceutical industry.  (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Medical Association; it is the "bible" of organizing diagnoses of mental disorders for both adults and children and lists known causes of these disorders, as well as some research concerning optimal treatments.)  The researchers found that every single one of the panel members derived some financial benefit from this association.  

There is a lot to be learned in Miller's film, making it a must-see, not just for those with children, but for anyone who gives a flip about this society, who buys into our new President's cry for transparency and accountability from every quarter (including his own administration) and finds him / herself questioning what he/she reads in the mass media about the "latest studies" from "experts in the field."  We need to listen to the part of our brain (the non-drugged part) that knows that some things are just plain wrong; we need to take personal responsibility to educate ourselves about the truth in these matters and to continue to identify those that would betray our trust.

Is this a perfect film?  No.  The syrupy, overwrought narration by wonderful British actor, David Suchet, is annoying, as is the biblical tone in the writing.  Miller was fortunate enough in his research to find stellar interview subjects who are passionate and eloquent and has put together a highly cogent argument.  I understand the propensity for the dramatics considering the subject matter's urgency, but the film would have been better served without them for it is a strong and substantive piece of journalism on its own.  The subject matter, the findings, the revelations are so shocking, so disturbing and so timely, it is a vital addition to the nonfiction canon and needs to be disseminated widely, particularly among families with small children "diagnosed" with ADHD, depression, anxiety and other behavioral maladies.

You can learn more about the film and its maker, see the trailer and order the DVD by clicking here.  You can also go to Spirit in Action's website to learn more about this organization's vision and mission, one of overriding consideration "for the health and welfare of children in all government, corporate and individual decisions," across all sectors of society.  Spirit in Action granted permission to Miller to use the trademarked name, Generation Rx.

The final shot Miller uses, after the last credit has rolled, is of an interview subject, who licking his lips nervously, says to the director, "Turn the camera off so we can talk."  Uh huh.  God bless documentary filmmakers.

Also watch Christopher Bell's Bigger Stronger Faster* (*the side effect of being American).

An Englishman in New York (and DC)

Last night at Thom Powers' Stranger Than Fiction spring season opener, director Geoffrey Smith (pictured) and his subject, Dr. Henry Marsh, were there to talk about their superb collaboration in making one of the top nonfiction films of '08, The English Surgeon.  Smith reported that the evening was "brilliant, just brilliant.  Packed house and the most amount of love and awe you can imagine.  We will definitely be having a week in NYC at some point.  John Vanco [GM of the IFC Center] wants it, he just has to find a slot, so I will keep you posted."

Smith and Marsh were also fêted at Sunday night's Cinema Eye Honors with two nominations for the film, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and Outstanding International Feature.  (Cave and Ellis will be releasing a two-CD compilation of their soundtrack music for The English Surgeon, The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James this summer.)

I was lucky enough to see the film at last year's Hot Docs in Toronto where it took the top international prize for Best Feature.  Here's what I wrote after seeing it there:

The first thing I viewed was Geoffrey Smith's The English Surgeon (the subject of this beautiful piece, the brave Dr. Henry Marsh, pictured, and one of his patients, Marian Dolishny, pictured with his beloved cat).  Winner of the Best International Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, this film's assured storytelling craft serves its magnificent subjects well.  Emotionally and visually rich, the film tells the story of Dr. Marsh, an esteemed neurosurgeon based in London, his dark humor tinged with an unrelenting sense of mission and the lusty joy of, as he describes it, "the bloodsport of brain surgery."  There is obviously a profound and deep respect between director Smith and his subjects and they offer up their humanity in all its raw and glorious aspects. 

Henry Marsh has been going to Kiev for over 15 years to offer what assistance he can to doctors working within an antiquated, crumbling medical establishment,  one that ends up killing more people than it aids or saves, particularly when it comes to brain surgery.  We learn that due to negligence, by the time most people come for evaluation, there is absolutely nothing that Marsh and his Russian colleague, the beleaguered Dr. Igor Kurilets, for whom Marsh is both a mentor and benefactor, can do, the scans portending the inevitable news that these people are, indeed, living on borrowed time.  The scenes where the doctors have to sit and tell the person sitting across from them that they only have a little while to live are devastating--quiet, intense, hopeless.  Refusing to give false hope, the doctors must deliver the worst news possible to a long line of people that wait outside their offices to hear their fate.

The scene where we get to witness, from start to finish, the brain surgery on the young and devout Marian is beautiful.  Described as "horrible" and "gruesome" by some, I watched this scene with awe.  It reminded me of the ear reconstruction scene in Manda Bala and the open heart surgery scene in All That Jazz--certainly not as stylized and operatic as those, but fascinating in its portrayal of a collaboration between doctor and patient.  As Marsh says, his patients help make him "brave."  Marsh feels it's essential for the success of the operation that Marian stay awake throughout the entire process (including the first drill into the skull), so Marian can communicate with his surgeons as they work to remove the massive tumor in his brain. We are privileged to sit and watch a small miracle happen before our eyes.  And, odd to say, there are many laughs in this scene, as well.

Marsh is haunted by one failed case, in particular, and in the climax of the film, accompanied by Kurilets, pays a visit to the mother of a young girl he tried to save several years ago.  She greets the two doctors with a houseful of relatives gathered around her for emotional support, and a table laden with food.  As they share a meal (no one can really eat anything), the doctor lets her know how devastated he still is that his efforts to save her daughter, Tanya, caused more damage to the already sick little girl, violating, in his mind, medicine's most precious oath--to do no harm.  I can't even think about that quietly powerful scene without welling up.   

Incredibly, Smith shot this over just two weeks in the winter of '07 and manages to tell a deeply moving story of pathos and redemption, every shot illustrating with delicacy and grace (and loads of humor), a portrait of a true humanitarian.  Nick Fraser, the editor of BBC Storyville and with Greg Sanderson, the executive producer of the film, says, "There are very, very few films I love quite as much as this one."  I loved it, too.

For those in DC, you're in luck this week:  there will be a special screening of The English Surgeon presented by SILVERDOCS this Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. with Geoffrey Smith in person at the AFI Silver Theatre.  Click here for more info and to buy tickets.

The Healing Power of Music Strikes Again: SLEEPWALKING THROUGH THE MEKONG

Our passions sometimes take us by surprise and lead us on journeys wilder than we ever imagined. 

Shot in just ten days in Cambodia, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong captures what happens when, in the words of its director, John Pirozzi, a long-time music video director and cinematographer for the documentary Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, "two extremely different cultures, that historically have had very little interaction, are connected by music." 

The film follows Los Angeles-based band, Dengue Fever, on a journey to Cambodia (formerly known as Kampuchea) to perform the 60s and 70s Cambodian rock n' roll of which they're obsessed.  What they bring with them is Cambodian-born singer, Chhom Nimol (who sang regularly for the King and Queen of the country), and memories of a peaceful and prosperous land before the brutal Khmer Rouge regime laid waste to the citizenry, beginning in 1975, led by the maniacal Pol Pot (whose rise to power was, arguably, due to the help of foreign intervention, including that of the US).  Over a million lives were lost--about a third of the population--and there was a significant diaspora with survivors and their children now residing all over the world.

There is a significant Cambodian population in Long Beach, California, a mid-sized city that is home to the giant port of Los Angeles.  This is where the band found Nimol.  This odyssey back to Phnom Penh, the country's capital, is a homecoming for her after living in the US for five years, and a spiritual and musical awakening for the boys in the band (all American), as they play live on the Cambodian Television Network (CTN), perform in the studio with master musicians and record new songs along the way (some co-written with a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver).  The band tours through Phnom Penh and the surrounding countryside paying homage to the spirit of Cambodia's original rock pioneers, who shine in stunning black and white archival footage interspersed throughout the film.  (Pictured, Dengue Fever guitarist Zac Holtzman performs with local traditional dancers and singers on a make-shift stage in a shantytown outside of Phnom Penh.)

The band performs songs in both Khmer and English, blending the rhythms of 60s Cambodian pop--think American surf music mixed with rock and a bit of psychedelia thrown in--with their own style.  They tour the globe with their unique sound, but it is their time in Cambodia that Pirozzi captures so beautifully, the big gangly Americans practicing their own sort of diplomatic relations as they bring original music back to the small, friendly people of Cambodia who call one another "brother" and "sister."  Pirozzi successfully accomplishes what he set out to do, finding that, indeed, music can bridge wide cultural divides in a joyful, celebratory and peaceful way.  You can see it on the faces of the people as they listen to their own music of decades past, especially on the faces of the older generation, filled with nostalgic memory as they listen to this old music made new again thirty years on.

The DVD will be available starting Tuesday, April 14, preceded by a screening and live performance at the release party on Thursday the 9th at L.A.'s Echoplex.