There is not a moment when Garrett Bradley’s Time could not be considered timeless. But the fact that this story is as relevant today is a tragic reminder of what hasn’t changed in this country and around the world despite the distance of centuries. Whether it be the slow arc of racial progress or the countdown towards an imagined freedom, for Black people there exists a particular terror of time that has its beginnings in slavery, a system that Bradley’s film makes clear is not confined to the past; it persists in the present. That revelation is not solely what makes Time the powerhouse that
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Take a moment to imagine the following scenario. You open up your laptop, log in, launch your web browser... and then your screen goes blank. “The rest of your computer works just fine,” they tell you when you take it in for troubleshooting. The processor is still humming, the keyboard can still send commands properly, the speakers are still intact. You just can’t see anything clearly on the display. You’re not alone. Nearly 285 million people around the world can’t see screens clearly either. Not because of faulty hardware, but because they are legally blind. And 466 million people worldwide
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Premiering October 6 on PBS’ Voces, Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground, from Bernardo Ruiz, follows activists, organizers and political operatives who are working to maximize Latino turnout in their local communities while devoting their efforts to COVID-19 relief as the pandemic surges. Taking an immersive approach, Latino Vote delves into the campaigns in the battleground states of Nevada, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania to explore how Latino voters are poised to
Although the documentary form can take shape in reenactment, animation or other mediums, storytelling through participant interviews continues to command the craft.
Getting Real ‘20’s Main Stage programming sought to address some timely issues within the documentary community, and sparked nuanced, thought-provoking discussions among the panelists and the hundreds of viewers tuning in in real time. The “Documentary Funding Ecosystem: Building Values-Based Financial Strategies” session was one especially valuable discussion, among a group of five producers, grantmakers and film professionals. They discussed the key priorities for our community if we are to move towards a more just, equitable and value-based financial ecosystem for filmmakers of all
The digital edition of Getting Real ‘20 has underscored the driving themes—”Access. Power. Possibility.”—by serving up riveting conversations from around the world, enabling filmmakers from, say, the Global South to engage with their counterparts from the American South and map out strategies and paradigms for the future. Day Two featured a Breakout Session headed by Judy Kibinge, executive director of the Nairobi, Kenya-based DocuBox, the East African Documentary Film Fund. Joining her for a discussion of ‘“The Things We Lost—The Role of Documentary Film in the Restitution of Africa’s Erased
On Day 3 of Getting Real ‘20, we joined the breakout session “ Counteracting Extractive Storytelling In The American South And In Global Communities Of Color.” Members of the collective Indie Media Arts South (IMAS) discussed storytelling priorities in the Southern region including regionally specific programming, curating practices, and achieving authenticity and agency in filmmaking. Moderated by Amada Torruella, independent filmmaker and film curator, panelists included Ebony Blanding, writer, filmmaker and co-founder of the Atlanta-based film art house, House of June; Zandashé Brown
Continuing the theme of #DecolonizeDocs that was first initiated at Getting Real ‘18, the 2020 edition’s first focused session on the South Asian region made for a highly dynamic and valuable breakout. Accommodating those joining in from the “motherland” time zone (of which there were plenty, including myself), the session hit the ground running at 7 AM Pacific Time with Anam Abbas, co-founder of Documentary Association of Pakistan, moderating and skillfully navigating the two-hour conversation. The all-too-familiar limitations to the digital realm aside, the excitement for the session was
Getting Real ‘20, our biennial conference on documentary media, happened from September 9 through Oct 3. On the opening day, we joined “ Expanding Expression: Audio Descriptions and Captioning in Film.” The makers and artistic collaborators of Vision Portraits and Crip Camp discussed the creative process behind their use of accessibility features such as audio description (AD) and closed captioning (CC). Moderated by Brenda Coughlin (Director of Producing and Impact Strategy, Sundance Institute), panelists included Crip Camp co-directors Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht; Vision Portraits
I opened an email message from Jim LeBrecht, sound designer and mixer, disability rights advocate, and co-director with Nicole Newnham of the film Crip Camp. “It was great to see you on the Zoom call today,” he said. “I thought I heard mention about you making a film. I wanted to know more about that if you’re willing to share.” This email led to Jim sharing information about FWD-Doc, adding me to a Facebook group for filmmakers with disabilities, and posting about my work in the group. I did some Googling, read bios of the founders of FWD-Doc, and became very excited that there was a whole