Those of you who read this column regularly know that I believe the future for documentary makers includes a significant change in the way technology connects filmmakers with audiences. Having just returned from my annual sojourn to the world of ultra-geeks and techno-nerds, I thought I'd report on some far-out tools that I suspect will shape our world in the months and years to come. The PC Forum, held each year in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a 20-year-old gathering of information technology folks that tries to look around corners and explore the future of technology and society. It's run by
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When I finished Bill Siegel's film The Trials of Muhammad Ali, my first thought was, "That must have been some kind of trial for Bill, on so many different levels." Siegel has a history of working on films that confront America's complicated past in ways that many people would want to avoid. In large part, Muhammad Ali is remembered for his poetic speech and powerful left hook, but his political punch was just as strong, and The Trials of Muhammed Ali addresses that cultural impact. Even with its lack of direct stridency, the film confronts mainstream ways of thinking about the past, the
On December 29, 2013, three Al Jazeera English journalists were imprisoned in Cairo. Today marks the 100th day of the detainment of Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste, and Bahar Mohammed in the Egyptian capitol, who were charged with spreading false news, belonging to a terrorist group and operating without a permit. Al Jazeera is holding a press conference and symposium in New York City this afternoon to mark the occasion, and to call on the Egyptian Authorities to immediately release its journalists.The International Documentary Assocaiation was invited to include a letter of support in the press
The University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), tucked between mountains and the redwoods of the central Pacific coast, is famous for its progressive values and faculty/student activism. This legacy thrives in UCSC's acclaimed master's program in Social Documentation/Film-Digital Media, nicknamed "SocDoc." Documentary spoke to B. Ruby Rich, co-founder of and professor at SocDoc, as well as its former director of graduate studies; and John Jota Leaños, associate professor and director of graduate studies, via email about the history and mission of the program. How did the program get started
In the spirit of the US presidential election year, the programmers at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival threw their hats into the ring with a cross-section of documentaries that, obliquely or directly, examine the American political system and the free market economy with which the system is inextricably linked. By plumbing the distant and not-so-distant pasts, these films both uncover heretofore buried stories of individuals who challenged the system and throw harsh light on its merits and flaws. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for "conspiracy to commit espionage." The case
The power of pictures can no longer be denied. Maybe in the past, if you had a television station, movie theater, cable network or a newspaper... You could manage the message. But all that changed at Abu Ghraib prison. Now the power is in the hands of independent voices, and free thinkers. I'll call them "documentarians" for simplicity's sake, but they're not documentary makers in any classic way. Those images were certainly not recorded for publication—more as some sort of horrible trophy. Yet they document acts that will have reverberations around the world. Before those pictures were
A review of 'The Autobiographical Documentary in America.'
It's been CAAMFest for two years now, but it's still a pleasant surprise not to have to utter its former mouthful of a name: the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Like its parent organization, the Center for Asian American Media, its name has been cropped, but its documentary subject matter has remained as inclusive as ever. That CAAMFest draws the youngest audiences I've ever seen at a film festival just confirms its inclusiveness—and probable staying power. Arab-Americans are another community included in CAAMFest's documentary scope. Usama Alshaibi opens his personal
Organizations urge Congress to reduce risk for independent filmmakers.