FESTIVAL ROUNDUP



 

docfest

Founded by non-fiction filmmaker Gary Pollard, in part, as an answer to New York’s defunct Global Village Documentary Festival which ran for over 15 years at Manhattan’s Public Theater, "docfest" — the New York international Documentary Festival — debuted as the first project of The New York Documentary Center. The Center is a new non-profit New York entity aimed at developing an audience for, as Pollard stated, "documentaries of vision and impact which do not necessarily fit the mold of commercial distribution."

Sixteen films, mostly premieres with a sprinkling of classics, were showcased during the five-day event comprising a lineup pulled together by program director David Leitner . By all accounts the event was a hit — the festival drew large crowds throughout its run at the recently re-furbished Director’s Guild Theater on 57th St. Among the moviegoers were many of the doc community’s familiar faces, including D.A. Pennebaker, St. Claire Bourne, Barbara Hammer, and Macky Alston. Rounding out the scene, Madonna and Rosie Perez even showed up to catch a Saturday night screening.

Timothy Speed Levitch in Bennett Miller's The Cruise

Bennett Miller’s The Cruise and Vicky Funari’s Paulina stood out as two of the all-around strongest entries. Miller’s The Cruise, a black & white portrait of NYC tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch that was shot entirely with a consumer mini-DV (digital video) camera and presented on 35mm, packed its Saturday afternoon screening and electrified attendees. Guided by the steady hand and eye of one-man crew Miller, The Cruise resonates from its opening moments as nasal-toned Levitch narrates a tour downtown. What begins as a hilarious look at one New Yorker and his city, becomes a moving portrait of a sorely misunderstood creative soul. Joining Miller for a post-screening Q & A, Levitch, tears streaming down his face, took the stage to meet the adoring crowd. The session was a fitting coda to the film — extending the unique portrait and offering a brief slice of what, for Miller, resulted in over 100 hours of footage. At press time, Bennett Miller and rep Jed Alpert were navigating continued distributor interest in the project.

Also emotional was the Q & A session for Vicki Funari’s moving biography Paulina about Paulina Cruz Suarez, the title character in the filmmaker’s portrait of a women who helped raise her while Funari’s father was stationed in Mexico City. Weaving together interviews of Paulina and family with dramatic re-enactments to illustrate key moments the woman’s life, Funari crafts a powerful documentation of Cruz Suarez’ harrowing life. Paulina’s perseverance and ability to overcome a childhood marred by rape and social rejection is a testament to the woman’s internal strength. So, as the diminutive, soft-spoken woman sat on-stage preaching her message of survival after the screening, many in the crowd were moved to tears. The film will be released later this year by San Francisco based Turbulent Arts.

Another Q & A filled with emotion, but of a different sort, was the discussion after Maggie Hadleigh West’s aggressive documentary, War Zone. West, video camera in hand, walks big-city streets awaiting a straying glance or catcall from a male observer, at which point she springs into action, interviewing the men to determine their motives and tell them face-to-face and on camera how demeaning and offensive their actions are. A fraction of her confrontations are included in the film, but her agenda to counteract "street-abuse", as she call it, is clearly portrayed. During the Q & A, West was generally praised, mostly by women, for her stirring film, but when one woman in the balcony questioned her method and another bristled at her decision to include Penthouse Magazine as a film sponsor, the filmmaker sharply disputed their points — defending her approach and pornography. Exhibiting some of the same interpersonal tactics that she used when questioning men in her film, West left the two women ruffled and frustrated long after the post-screening session had ended.

Earlier in the week, David Douglas’ Oscar-nominated The Fires of Kuwait kicked off the festival during a special IMAX screening, while the following night, docfest looked back at two classic television documentaries that poignantly illustrated the Vietnam War experience for a mainstream Network audience. Both broadcast on CBS in 1967, Morley Safer’s Vietnam: A Personal Report and The Anderson Report. On hand to discuss his program, Safer sounded like a seasoned indie filmmaker as he detailed battles with the network to guarantee his vision remain intact when the show was broadcast.

In a move that probably would have made Safer’s "60 Minutes" proud, filmmaker Ulrike Koch snuck a miniDV camcorder into Tibet to create the festival’s other documentary shot entirely on digital video. Koch’s The Saltmen of Tibet stood out with its deliberate, thoughtful pacing and spectacular shots of the Tibetan landscape. As remarkable are the intimate moments, afforded only by such a small camera, as we witness everyday exchanges — the nomadic Saltmen cooking or simply talking inside a confined tent. By documenting what Koch would later admit was a waning annual ritual, she gives viewers what probably would have previously been an un-documentable journey. Zeitgeist is releasing the film, with a fantastic looking 35mm print, starting with a run at New York’s Film Forum this summer.

Analog and digital video played a major role in the production of docfest films — all but one of the new works (produced in 1997 or 1998) were shot at least in part on video. Four were shot at least in part with a digital camera. To explore the new wave of digital technology David Leitner moderated a popular Saturday morning seminar entitled, "Documentary Making in the Digital World". While the panel was mostly filled with companies hawking their wares, attendees were given the opportunity to get a better grasp on emerging technologies, including the coming of high-definition television, the flexibility afforded by a telecine artist, the options for digital video cameras, and the potential distribution opportunities available in the new DVD format.

A filmmaker who certainly understands the excitement of doc-making in a time when technology is creating new opportunities and flexibility, is noted French documentarian Jean Rouch. Now in his 80’s, Rouch, the father of "cinema verite," used the new Eclair camera in 1960 to create his landmark film, Chronicle of a Summer. He presented the film on Friday night, attended festival screenings, and participated in a Sunday discussion with filmmakers Albert Maysles (Salesman, Grey Gardens) and D.A. Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back, The War Room). His presence throughout the festival unified the event just as his groundbreaking verite film provided a unique context for viewing the docfest films.

With docfest, Festival Director and Founder Gary Pollard and staff have not only launched a much needed new festival for non-fiction work, but with the Documentary Center, they have the potential to solidly promote a continuing movement. Among the goals that Pollard has unveiled for the future are a docfest film tour, year-round doc screenings in New York City, and an annual filmmakers retreat conference on Block Island, Rhode Island.



 
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© 2005 Filmmaker Magazine