Remembered Earth is the eighth film that former TV news reporter/cinematographer John Grabowska has produced, written and directed for the National Park Service, where he works at its media design center in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The under-30-minute film explores the high deserts, mountains, red rock canyons and plateaus of New Mexico. There are birds and animals whose ancient ancestors inhabited the land, and a few scars left on the landscape by excavators. Grabowska produced Remembered Earth for the visitors center at El Malpais National Park in New Mexico. The film is also slated to air
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Back in the good old days, productions were like families. People joined together with a common goal--to make a film--and they worked hard to make that goal into a finished film. As pressure on costs has increased, and the fees that freelancers earn in reality TV have risen, however, documentary production has become a more complex economic arrangement. But technology and passion have helped to relight the content-driven world of doc production. Now, thanks to the ubiquity of tools, there is a future just around the corner, in which the key word is "collaboration." This future is exciting and
Filmmakers and film commissioners spoke to the AFCI Locations Show about shooting on foreign soil.
Jan Krawitz shares her experience on the Southern Circuit Independent Film Tour.
In a society where the disabled are often invisible or a source of pity or condescension, Murderball, a new film about quadriplegics playing wheelchair rugby, shatters many long-held attitudes and convenient stereotypes. Transcending the sports documentary genre, the powerful and provocative film focuses mostly on the humanity of the players, rather than their disability. "The most important moment in the film is when you're watching it for the first time, and somewhere you forget the stars are in wheelchairs," says Jeffrey Mandel, a producer of the film along with Dana Adam Shapiro, who also
I first saw Ricky Leacock and Joyce Chopra's Happy Mother's Day in 1964 as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. It showed me the direction of--and the key ideas I would take into--my documentary career. I had seen earlier examples of direct cinema or cinéma vérité ( Primary and Eddie from Drew Associates), and in the next few years I would be excited by the Maysles brothers ( Salesman), Jean Rouch ( Chronicle of a Summer) and Barbara Kopple ( Harlan County, USA). However, Happy Mother's Day taught me the most important lessons: You can never be sure what story you are telling until
Dear Readers, In the Fall 2011 issue, we tackled the different components that comprise the craft of documentary making. Here, we provide a left-brain counterpoint, of sorts, in which we explore the business side of doc-making. Over the past decade or so, documentary makers have been savvy about taking on the marketing and distribution of their work themselves. The digital revolution, along with its attendant tools of social media and networking, has made that all possible--and has impelled filmmakers to apply their innate artistic and creative sensibilities to the managerial and
Hot Coffee" src="http://www.documentary.org/images/magazine/2012/FromTheCourtroomToTheEditRoom_Summer12.jpg" style="width: 647px; height: 411px;"> The career path to documentary filmmaking is a diffuse one. Some documentarians transition back and forth from broadcast journalism or fiction filmmaking, others shift from artistic disciplines such as still photography or theater. But given documentary's power to instigate social action and advocacy, a handful of practicing attorneys have made the transition from the court room to the editing room. Rebecca Richman Cohen ( War Don Don; Code of the
The Story of The Photo League--1936-1951