DOCUMENTARIES WITH A POINT OF VIEW
Events
Sonjia Hyon is the Festival Director of the Asian American International Film Festival, the longest-running festival devoted to the works of Asian and Asian American filmmakers. This year the Festival celebrates its 31st year in New York from July 10th to July 19th.
I started working in Asian American film as an intern at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 1999. At the time, my interest in Asian American film was an extension of my interest in subculture and independent media — I was an avid reader of zines, listener of college radio, and a patron of small art house theaters. What I mostly appreciated was that I belonged to a society that advocated difference instead of conformity, and believed in unity, not uniformity. For me, this was the transformative quality of Asian American cinema: it wasn't about affirming my identity as an Asian American woman; instead, it continually unraveled what Asian American identity meant — making it more complicated, more indefinable, more ambiguous. Films by Christine Choy, Jon Moritsugu and Rea Tajiri provided a lens to challenge assumptions and question the obvious.
Almost ten years later, I've become the director of the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, and like the Festival, I've also just entered my 30s. Turning 30, you start to reprioritize, evaluate what's important and let go. Here at the Festival, it's the same. We see our 30s as a moment to break from the film festival model that embraces glamour and celebrities, and instead honor films and their filmmakers. At AAIFF, we are inspired by our founders Daryl Chin, Tom Tam and Fern Lee, all of whom believed in the importance of independent filmmakers in mobilizing different ways to imagine how to live.
In honor of officially entering our 30s, we're bringing back veteran filmmakers such Wayne Wang, director of the festival's opening night film, The Princess of Nebraska, and introducing many new vanguards such as Malaysian filmmaker Sang Tat Liew, documentary filmmakers Risa Morimoto and Derek Shimoda, and our exciting line-up of shorts directors.
I am also thrilled to announce our new series of conversations on culture and ideas — New Landscapes: Media and Its Adaptations. This series has become a pet project of the staff and our collaborators at Asia Society and the Asian/Pacific/Institute at NYU. Collectively, we wanted to put together a conference that encouraged interdisciplinary thinking and talking. The panels range in topic from an intimate conversation between female documentary filmmakers moderated by P.O.V.'s own Anne del Castillo, to a discussion on Asian aesthetics between some of the world's top artists such as architect Billie Tsien and playwright David Henry Hwang.
We love movies here at AAIFF, and if you do too, you should come visit us at the Asia Society from July 10 to 19 and watch some great cinema.
You can see our full schedule and programs at AAIFF.org.
Roger Weisberg's Critical Condition, which airs this fall on P.O.V., answers the question with the stories of four individuals who struggle with health problems without insurance: together with their loved ones, they are forced to confront difficult financial and emotional decisions as they fight for their lives. It's a problem that faces a sixth of the nation every day, as the ranks of the uninsured swell toward 50 million.
Watch
Critical Condition on PBS, September 30 at 10 p.m.; or view the
trailer online.
I'll be facilitating a sneak-preview screening and discussion at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, NY (about two hours north of New York City), Saturday, June 21, at 1:30 PM. If you're interested in attending, please do — the screening and discussion are free!
What's your position on health care policy? Come talk about it this weekend at Upstate Films, or post a comment below!
Have you been looking for a reason to take a trip to upstate New York this weekend? Look no further — here's the perfect opportunity to see a great film in one of the prettiest towns in the region.
Katrina Browne's Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North will have a special sneak-preview screening at the indie arthouse cinema Upstate Films, in Rhinebeck, New York, this coming Saturday, June 14, at 1:30 p.m. The screening is free, and will feature a Q&A with Traces co-producer Elizabeth Delude-Dix. Rhinebeck is located about two hours north of New York City.
Watch
Traces of the Trade on PBS, June 24 at 10 p.m.; or view the
trailer online.
In the film, Browne and nine other descendants of the DeWolf family grapple with their ancestors' legacy as the largest slave trading family in U.S. They embark on a journey to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also stumbling through the minefield of contemporary race relations. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, Traces of the Trade offers powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide.
If you'll be in Rhineback for the event, you'll also have a chance to see another P.O.V. film that Upstate will be screening: Yung Chang's Up The Yangtze is about the Three Gorges Dam Project, the largest hydroelectric dam project in history — and life along the Yangtze River, which it will change forever.
How far would you travel for a great film? Let us know below!
Maia Ermita is the director of the Media That Matters Film Festival, a project of Arts Engine. Now in its eighth year, the festival brings high-impact shorts and take-action tools to audiences around the country. This year I was lucky enough to serve on the jury of the festival, so I can say with assurance that these films are worth checking out. I invited Maia to tell us more about the festival, and this week's activities.
Hope everyone rested up over the weekend in time for all of the events happening at Arts Engine with the eighth annual Media That Matters Film Festival!
This year's collection includes some amazing films focusing on such issues as the essential role of youth in a democracy, the burden of war on a young boy's life, the changing face of nomadic life in Tibet and the importance of honeybees on the environment. After watching these films and meeting with the filmmakers, we are proud to provide this platform to celebrate these visions of hope through film.
The world premiere on Wednesday, May 28th will feature 12 new inspiring short films from around the world at the IFC Center in New York City at 7pm. The filmmakers from this latest collection will be participating in a Q&A soon after the premiere, so come out to meet these great new advocates for social change through film. Get your tickets quick!
In case you can't make it to our Wednesday premiere, due to popular demand, we'll be having a second screening on Friday, May 30th at Tribeca Cinemas at 7pm where you'll join many of our partners (including P.O.V.!) for a run of these same 12 films with many of the filmmakers for a follow-up Q&A session. Bring your friends to Tribeca Cinemas this Friday.
And if all of this isn't enough, join us for the official Media That Matters after-party on Saturday, May 31st as festival winner African Underground: Hip Hop in Senegal's filmmaker and featured artists spin tracks and lay down beats at the Rose Live Music center in historic Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
I hope some of you are able to attend our events — but in case you can't, the festival will officially launch online on May 29th.
Stay tuned for more screenings and events around the world with Media That Matters.
See you there!
In 2005, P.O.V. aired Jessica Yu's film In the Realms of the Unreal. The film is the astounding tale of outsider artist Henry Darger, who, unbeknownst to anyone, had created a 15,000-page novel and hundreds of illustrations that have inspired artists and viewers since their discovery. Three years later, Darger continues to fascinate and astound, and last month, Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger opened at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.
Dargerism is curated by Brooke Davis Anderson, the director and curator of the Contemporary Center at the American Folk Art Museum. Three years ago, we worked with Brooke on one of our favorite website features — an interactive audio tour through several of Darger's works for the P.O.V. In the Realms of the Unreal website. Now Brooke has been kind enough to answer some of our questions about the show at the Folk Art Museum, and Darger's continued hold on our imaginations.
Henry Darger:
6 Episode 3 Place not mentioned. Escape during violent storm, still fighting though persed for long distance. Zoom into the image. © Kiyoko Lerner. Image used by permission of the American Folk Art Museum.
P.O.V.: Tell us about the show you just curated at the American Folk Art Museum — Dargerism, Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger.
Brooke Davis Anderson: The Dargerism show illustrates how Henry Darger has been influential to eleven contemporary artists over the last 25 years. The show examines how one artist has played a role in contemporary discourse in the art world, but one of the underlying themes of the show is also the self-taught artist's movement from the periphery of the discourse to the center. In a way, I'm trying to be playful with this show: I'm suggesting that if so many artists are influenced by Darger, then he can no longer be considered to be on the margins of art history.
The eleven contemporary artists in the show are very diverse — they work in painting, sculpture, video, drawing, photography, etc., and Darger's influence on them are integrated into each artist's oeuvre. In fact, this is the first time the Folk Art Museum has highlighted academically trained artists, and it's also the first time we have exhibited video and contemporary photography.
In terms of Darger's influence, some artists are very taken by the roles girls and women play in the work of Darger. They respond to Darger's powerful Vivian girls by creating their own mythological figures. Justine Kurland, for example, portrays Tom Sawyer-like girls; Amy Cutler forces the girls she portrays into work situations, which harkens back to Darger in subtle ways.
Other artists, like Trenton Doyle Hancock and Yun-Fei Ji, were released to become storytellers when they discovered Darger's work. Both were in graduate school and feeling that their work was too narrative, but then they saw Darger's 15,000 page novel and the journeys of his characters! Yun-Fei Ji said "Darger took the monkey off my back..." while Doyle Hancock said that Darger's work gave him "the permission" to pursue narrative art.
Read more after the jump...
Katy Chevigny is the filmmaker behind Election Day (P.O.V. 2008) as well as the co-founder of the non-profit media organization Arts Engine, whose production arm, Big Mouth Films, has produced eight feature-length documentaries. This week, Arts Engine celebrates its 10th anniversary with a series of screenings at the Paley Center for Media in New York. Katy writes in to tell us more about the occasion.
It was a little over 10 years ago when Julia Pimsleur and I started our own production company in New York to make documentary films. Our plan then, as it still is now, was to establish a creative, collaborative environment to make documentaries on a range of topics, working with a number of different directors.
Julia had just spent seven years living in Paris, where she learned how to be a producer at the French National Film School. As a result, she was inspired to borrow from the model of many French documentary production companies, in which producers bring a creative vision to their slate of films and work collaboratively with a select group of filmmakers to achieve that vision.
We started Big Mouth with a simple business strategy of developing long-form documentaries for production (our first film was Kirsten Johnson's Innocent Until Proven Guilty) while also producing work-for-hire documentary projects for European production companies. And while our production department was steadily plugging away making this eclectic roster of documentaries, we developed into a non-profit organization called Arts Engine, eventually launching the website MediaRights.org and the Media That Matters Film Festival.
Over the course of the last decade, we have completed eight feature-length documentaries by six different directors. Our two latest films were both lucky enough to find themselves a home on P.O.V.: Andrew Walton's Arctic Son was part of P.O.V.'s 2007 season, and my film, Election Day, will have its broadcast premiere on P.O.V. on July 1, 2008.
Later this week, as part of our 10th anniversary celebration, the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) here in New York City will be showcasing our work in a special four-day (May 1 - 4) retrospective and workshop series. For the first time ever, all eight Big Mouth films will screen, along with highlights from several years of our Media That Matters Film Festival. In addition, on Thursday, May 1, we are offering a special workshop to educators on the uses of social justice media. All screenings and events are open to the public, and the full schedule can be found on Arts Engine's website.
None of us here can really believe that it's been 10 years since we started — but we're looking forward to seeing what the next 10 years have to offer. Marking this decade of work by sharing these films with an audience is a great privilege for us, and we hope that some of you will join us at the Paley Center this weekend!
Up the Yangtze, a new documentary about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam project in China by Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang, opens in New York City at the IFC Center tomorrow. The film has won numerous awards on the festival circuit and received much critical acclaim for its moving and powerful portrayal of contemporary China by following the rise of the Yangtze River and the fates of two young people working on a luxury cruise ship on the river.
Last night, a special screening of the film was held at the Rubin Museum, which holds a small but comprehensive collection of Himalayan Art. As the lights went down in the packed theater, I couldn't help but notice that actor Colin Firth had slipped into the row behind me! It's not often that you see celebrities at documentary screenings, but the New York audience played it cool. No one gawked (except for me, and even then, discreetly), and Mr. Firth, I hope, was free to be carried along the Yangtze by the power of the film, just like the rest of us.
Watch the video trailer for Up the Yangtze:
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. Since construction began in 1994, over a million people have been forced to relocate, and millions more are projected to lose their homes and livelihoods to the massive project. Flooding and landslides near the dam also threaten lives and homes, and last Saturday, Chinese authorities evacuated approximately 200 people living near the dam after a landslide.
Up the Yangtze provides a look at how the dam is altering the landscapes and lives of the people who live along the river. We meet the impoverished 16-year-old Yu Shui (she takes on the American name "Cindy" when she starts working on the ship) and the arrogant 19-year-old "Jerry" Chen Bo Yu — two very different teenagers who work on a luxury cruise ship that provides a "farewell tour to the Yangtze" for Western tourists. Their stories, as well as the story of the cruise, and the story of what is being lost to the dam, were beautifully shot by Chang's Chinese crew, and are interwoven together in a film that gives both an overview of the project and close-ups of the people being affected.
This was my second time watching the film, and I loved seeing it on the big screen. Afterwards, Chang answered questions from audience members. When asked what inspired him to make the film, he talked about how he was in China with his parents and embarking on the Yangtze farewell cruise when a marching band began playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy": "It was like The Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now," he said. The experience spurred him to make Up the Yangtze. He was also asked about whether he had any problems filming in China (He didn't have any problems, since he filmed without official permissions, and with a Chinese crew) and what he thought about hydroelectric dams in his native Quebec (he demurred, saying that he wasn't an expert on the issue). Sadly, Colin Firth did not ask a question.
You can catch Up the Yangtze at the IFC Center in New York starting tomorrow, and later this year on P.O.V.
Up the Yangtze, a new documentary about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam project in China by Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang, opens in New York City at the IFC Center tomorrow. The film has won numerous awards on the festival circuit and received much critical acclaim for its moving and powerful portrayal of contemporary China by following the rise of the Yangtze River and the fates of two young people working on a luxury cruise ship on the river.
Last night, a special screening of the film was held at the Rubin Museum, which holds a small but comprehensive collection of Himalayan Art. As the lights went down in the packed theater, I couldn't help but notice that actor Colin Firth had slipped into the row behind me! It's not often that you see celebrities at documentary screenings, but the New York audience played it cool. No one gawked (except for me, and even then, discreetly), and Mr. Firth, I hope, was free to be carried along the Yangtze by the power of the film, just like the rest of us.
Watch the video trailer for Up the Yangtze:
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. Since construction began in 1994, over a million people have been forced to relocate, and millions more are projected to lose their homes and livelihoods to the massive project. Flooding and landslides near the dam also threaten lives and homes, and last Saturday, Chinese authorities evacuated approximately 200 people living near the dam after a landslide.
Up the Yangtze provides a look at how the dam is altering the landscapes and lives of the people who live along the river. We meet the impoverished 16-year-old Yu Shui (she takes on the American name "Cindy" when she starts working on the ship) and the arrogant 19-year-old "Jerry" Chen Bo Yu — two very different teenagers who work on a luxury cruise ship that provides a "farewell tour to the Yangtze" for Western tourists. Their stories, as well as the story of the cruise, and the story of what is being lost to the dam, were beautifully shot by Chang's Chinese crew, and are interwoven together in a film that gives both an overview of the project and close-ups of the people being affected.
This was my second time watching the film, and I loved seeing it on the big screen. Afterwards, Chang answered questions from audience members. When asked what inspired him to make the film, he talked about how he was in China with his parents and embarking on the Yangtze farewell cruise when a marching band began playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy": "It was like The Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now," he said. The experience spurred him to make Up the Yangtze. He was also asked about whether he had any problems filming in China (He didn't have any problems, since he filmed without official permissions, and with a Chinese crew) and what he thought about hydroelectric dams in his native Quebec (he demurred, saying that he wasn't an expert on the issue). Sadly, Colin Firth did not ask a question.
You can catch Up the Yangtze at the IFC Center in New York starting tomorrow, and later this year on P.O.V.
Irene Villaseñor is P.O.V.'s Youth Views Manager. Youth Views is a project that works with youth, educators and youth-serving organizations to use P.O.V. films as a tool for youth engagement. Irene will be presenting on two workshops at the 2008 NYC Grassroots Media Conference next week. She writes in to tell us a little bit more about the work being done at the conference, and about the two workshops she is participating in.
I am excited to announce that after attending this impressive event since its inception, this Sunday P.O.V. will (finally) co-present not just one but two workshops at the Fifth Annual NYC Grassroots Media (NYCGM) Conference. This conference has been successfully connecting community and media organizations in NYC to explore the political dimensions of media and how it shapes our lives. The theme of this year's conference is Speaking Truth to Power: Media Justice In Our Communities.
From 10:30 am-12:00 pm, we'll be at Curation as Lens of Activism: Interactive Tools & Media Approaches. We are partnering with Listen Up!, a network that connects young video producers to resources that will achieve an authentic youth voice in the mass media and with the Urban Visionaries Film Festival, New York City's only film festival produced, promoted and presented by youth. We will be sharing tips on mentoring community producers, how to determine your values for selecting media, how to produce community events that reflect those values and insights on working on international, intercultural and intergenerational production teams.
Read more after the jump...
This looks interesting for New Yorkers. Tomorrow night at 7 pm, the Center for Communication at The New School presents a panel discussion on "Reel Images: Stereotypes in Contemporary Media."
A panel of filmmakers will discuss representations of race and class in current Hollywood cinema, independent films, and commercial television. Where do these images originate? What assumptions do they reflect? What social functions do they serve? What role do documentaries play in countering stereotypical representations?
Relevant excerpts from New School student presentations will be shown. Panelists include: Sophia Chang, manager of producers/composers, including the RZA, Raphael Saadiq, Organized Noize, Pete Rock; and film producer, Shaolin and Wu Tang (HBO); Sonia Gonzalez, director/producer, Blind Leading the Blind (2007), Remembering Ragtime (2004), and City by the Sea (2002); Sofia Quintero, board chair/co-founder, Chica Luna Productions; and Al Santana, film/videomaker and cinematographer whose work includes Who Killed Vincent Chin?. Moderated by New School professor and independent media consultant, Michelle Materre.
Sponsored by the Center for Communication and the Department of Media Studies and Film at The New School.
For those of you who sometimes tune into NPR during your workday, today's Talk of the Nation will feature P.O.V. filmmaker Freida Lee Mock and playwright Tony Kushner. They'll be talking about Mock's documentary film, Wrestling with Angels, at approximately 3:40 PM ET. Wrestling with Angels premieres on P.O.V. tomorrow night at 9 PM on PBS. (Check your local listings.)
Update: If you missed it live, listen to the discussion on the Talk of the Nation website anytime.
If you live in Milwaukee, you have two chances to catch Revolution '67 (P.O.V. 2007) this week.
Wednesday, 11/28
Milwaukee, WI
7:30 pm
docUquarium, at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee in partnership with UWM's Helen Bader School of Social Welfare will host a screening of Revolution '67. Filmmakers Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno and Jerome Bongiorno will be in attendance for a post- screening Q&A. The event will take place at the UWM Union Theatre located at 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd. For more information please check the docUquarium website. This is not a P.O.V. event.
Thursday, 11/29
Milwaukee, WI
7:00 pm
The University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee's Cultures and Communities Programs in partnership with America's Black Holocaust Museum will host a screening of Revolution '67. The event will take place at the museum, located at 2233 North 4th Street. The museum asks for a $5 donation for adults and $3 for children. This is not a P.O.V. event.
I just came back from the 2007 Sheffield Doc/Fest. In addition to screenings around the clock, there were a host of great panels, presentations, pitch sessions and parties. Director Heather Croall and staff should be congratulated for putting on a fantastic event.
According to the festival's website, more than 1200 delegates from around the world attended the event. Some of the highlights included the European premiere of Grant Gee's Joy Division, a Channel Four interview with acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto, master classes with Louis Theroux and Brian Hill and more.
I spoke about P.O.V. and our work with Web 2.0 technologies around documentary films on the Docs 3.0 panel (part of the festival's DigiDocs 360 program) and served as one of the judges for the Crossover and Cross-Media Challenge pitch competitions. I also tried to watch as many films as I could (though I didn't see nearly as many as I wanted), and had a number of interesting conversations in the Showroom Bar, the social hub of the festival. Sheffield Doc/Fest is one of the premiere documentary festivals in the world, and for filmmakers, members of the documentary industry and documentary fans, it's five intense days of talking, watching and living docs.
Fall is a great time to be a documentary film fan. Here's a slate of doc-related events in New York City
Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 7PM
20 Years of P.O.V.: The Art of Personal Storytelling
The Paley Center, New York City
For two decades, P.O.V. has been the beacon for the independent documentary spirit. This event will explore how the series has nurtured personal storytelling with three filmmakers who embody the independent vision, Ralph Arlyck, Alan Berliner, and Anne Makepeace. Each filmmaker will screen clips from their work and will be joined by executives from P.O.V. to discuss how the series and the independent documentary have evolved over twenty years.
Q&A Filmmakers Ralph Arlyck (Following Sean), Alan Berliner (The Sweetest Sound, Intimate Stranger), and Anne Makepeace (Rain in a Dry Land, Baby, It's You); Simon Kilmurry, Exec. Dir., P.O.V.; Marc Weiss, Founder, P.O.V.
This event is part of the Paley Center's DocFest07. For more on DocFest07 and for ticket information, please visit the Paley Center's website.
More events after the jump...
