A DOCUMENTARY CHORUS
Josh Welsh over at Film Independent forwarded me this info about a cool new documentary project that’s unfolding on YouTube. Two filmmakers, Eric Byler and Annabel Park, are making a film about the politics of immigration in Northern Virginia. They are posting short clips of their film on a channel they have set up on the site and are soliciting viewer feedback about the future direction of the project. “We will respond to viewer feedback, including requests for more coverage on certain storylines, contextual clarifications, and even perhaps on-site production excursions,” the filmmakers write on their YouTube page.
Here’s a statement Park sent along giving some more info:
In July, Prince William Co. Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the harshest local legislation in the nation aiming to remove “illegal immigrants” from their county. Supporters say that the Board is brave and it is necessary in order to preserve the law and quality of life. Critics say that it’s racist and a cynical case of self-serving political grandstanding.
On November 6th, all local and state-level seats are up for election in Virginia including PW Co. Board Chairman Corey Stewart and Supervisor John Stirrup who introduced the controversial resolution.
Because of the timeliness of the subject, we felt compelled to create a real-time, interactive documentary Youtube channel — breaking with the usual documentary post-production method that delays public feedback for months and months.
Each video is shot and edited quickly by a small team of independent filmmakers we’ve assembled including Jeff Man, Tomiko Anders, Tom Moore, and Zhibo Lai.
And here is the first video posting: