Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! A conversation between IndieWire’s Eric Kohn and Free Chol Soo Lee producer Su Kim discusses how the media market limits the drive for content creation in documentary filmmaking and how her work aims to counter limits. Kim’s producing career over the past decade coincided with the explosion of the documentary filmmaking market stimulated by the streaming market. Yet
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Shooting Faya Dayi without a crew in rural Ethiopia, where walking long distances was the only way to arrive at my locations, taught me something about the joys of traveling light. In a sense, all my gear choices were a response to this specific challenge, starting with the bag. Once I stripped my equipment to the bare essentials, I used my Kata Pro-Light bag, which fit all my sound and camera gear, as well as my computer and portable mini hard drives, and is a super comfortable bag to wear with padded shoulder and waist straps. It made all the difference and has lasted me over 10 years! I
Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, August 9, 2022) – The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced today that the Getting Real ‘22, its biennial convening for documentary practitioners, will be held both in-person in Los Angeles and with a virtual audience from all around the world next month from September 27-29. The Getting Real ‘22 conference keynote speakers are Erika Dilday, Anand Patwardhan, and Nanfu Wang. National Geographic's Carolyn Bernstein, the executive VP of scripted and feature documentaries, will also join the conference for an intimate fireside conversation. The complete
In Ben Klein and Violet Columbus’ 2022 Sundance-premiering documentary, The Exiles, the filmmakers follow filmmaker Christine Choy as she reconnects with three dissidents she had filmed for her 1989 project Tiananmen/China Today: Wu’er Kaixi, Wan Runnan, and Yan Jiaqi. However, in developing a new documentary that resurrects collaborative footage from more than 30 years ago, controversies have arisen—specifically regarding what is “truth” when it comes to the editing and synthesis of old footage into a new documentary that collaborates heavily with one of its original makers. Klein and
Discovering Errol Morris’ Vernon, Florida, inside a dark alcove in NYU’s media library as an undergrad studying film was what inspired me to pursue documentary seriously. In Vernon, Florida, I saw how nonfiction could be a place for as much innovation, artistry, and mystery as fiction filmmaking. Released in 1981, Vernon, Florida was Morris’ second feature, a 55-minute documentary set among the residents of a small town in Florida. On the surface, nothing much appears to happen in the film. We listen to and watch the meandering ramblings of a few town residents: a turkey hunter obsessed with
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Frontline’s Afghanistan Undercover, which exposes the reality of women living under Taliban rule, airs August 9. Correspondent Ramita Navai shares stories of not only women facing punishments from Taliban officials, but the women activists fighting to rescue them. Watch the documentary on PBS. Camilla Nielsson’s President follows the complexities behind the test for political power in Zimbabwe in the 2018 general election. As Nelson Chamisma challenges current president
BY Tom White & Bedatri D. Choudhury
Storytelling, and its advancements, has mostly been in the pursuit of making things seem more and more real, to immerse the listener in an experience that seems lived, to have them believe what they see on a screen is actually happening, or can happen. Artworks using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality often succeed in breaking the fabled fourth wall and helping audiences embody the experience of going through what is on display. Naturally enough, the documentary form—which often seeks to create empathy in viewers—finds a home within these mediums, moving away from traditional 2D formats
Dear Documentary Community, Just over a year ago, I began my tenure as IDA’s first Latinx executive director. I accepted the position hoping to address the systemic inequities and biases that undermine the documentary industry. But this endeavor was interrupted by numerous staff resignations, causing turmoil and confusion in the larger community. I humbly admit that during this period, the board and I struggled to effectively communicate to the community what was happening. This was due to the legal constraints involving confidential personnel matters. I also regret that I did not effectively
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel’s feature documentary Shadow Game shares the reality facing immigrants, who flee from war-torn homes. The documentary follows teenagers leaving European countries, as they “travel through a shadow world of minefields, bears, fast-flowing rivers, smugglers and border guards, desperately trying to win what they call ‘The Game.’” Watch the film on True Story and see the lengths that these teenagers will go to in pursuit of a better life. A