Documentary

Migrating Talents: Inside the Flaherty Seminar

The 54th edition of the notorious Flaherty Film Seminar (June 21-27) kicked off with some steamy words from president Patti Bruck. “We’re not here to discuss film,” she insinuated; “we’re here to argue about film.” Begun in 1955 when Robert Flaherty’s widow Frances gathered filmmakers, critics, and musicians to discuss the potential of the moving image, the Seminar has evolved into one of the more idiosyncratic and invigorating stops in the film world, with an almost Nietzschean will for conflict. No titles or filmmakers are announced beforehand; all screenings, meals, and discussions are mandatory; filmmaker/audience hierarchies are abandoned in favor […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 16, 2008
Tony Gerber & Jesse Moss, Full Battle Rattle

AN IRAQI ROLE PLAYER IN TONY GERBER AND JESSE MOSS’ FULL BATTLE RATTLE. COURTESY MILE END FILMS. A strong partnership always relies on both individuals bringing different things to the table, and documentary filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss certainly draw on diverse backgrounds for their creative collaboration. New York City native Gerber began his career directing alternative theater and making films for theatrical productions, and went on to work with conceptual artist Matthew Barney on Cremaster III (2002) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2005). He directed the short film, Small Taste of Heaven in 1997, and his debut fiction feature, […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 9, 2008
A Step Into the Mainstream

Canada’s Patricia Rozema has had an eclectic career, spanning films as diverse as her 1987 debut Cannes feature, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing to her Yo Yo Ma feature, Six Gestures: Suite No. 6 for Unaccompanied Cello to her 1999 Jane Austen adaptation, Mansfield Park. The themes and approaches of these films — Rozema’s concentration on adult eroticism, feminism, religious skepticism, and social revolution — would not seem to be the kind of interests which would speak to the upright members of the American Girl enterprise, protectorate of the indomitable Kit Kittredge and her wholesome doll sisters. Yet, the sweetly […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 7, 2008
MORE FROM THE SUNDANCE DOC LAB

Here’s part two of Diann Borshay Liem’s report from the Sundance Documentary Edit Lab. (For those who missed Part One, you can read it here.) It’s Day 5 at the Sundance Doc Edit/Story Lab. For me, the lab started where our film ends. During our first work day, editor/advisor Mary Lampson shared a personal story about duality and living a false life. We laughed, I cried. Scott (our assistant editor) cued up “Getting to Know You” and Vivien and I danced around our edit trailer. Amazingly, through this odd process we uncovered what I think will be the ending to […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 4, 2008
BLOGGING THE SUNDANCE DOC LAB

Filmmaker is hosting blogs from several of the participants of the various Sundance Labs this summer. Here’s part one of producer/director Deann Borshay Liem’s (Precious Objects of Desire) from the Sundance Documentary Edit and Storytelling Lab, which runs June 21 – 28. Sometimes I refer to myself as “she.” This is because I’m a character in my own film and I have to separate who I am in real life with who I am on screen. Fortunately I’m a Gemini so this splitting into two (or more) doesn’t seem that odd. Any other editor might think this was nuts, but […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2008
“HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD”

Highlighted in The New York Times as well as our magazine during it’s impressive run through the festival circuit that included Toronto, Berlin and SXSW, Eddy Moretti and Vice magazine creator Suroosh Alvi‘s documentary on the only heavy metal band in Iraq is a gripping account of survival and the escape that music can bring. The band, Acrassicauda (English translation: Black Scorpion), is comprised of a group of twentysomethings who learned how to speak English through watching Hollywood movies and listening to bootleg tapes of Metallica and Slayer. Moretti and Alvi first heard of the band soon after the fall […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jun 14, 2008
THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA

If you are a regular — like, hourly — reader of this blog, you know something about In Spring, the short Jamie Stuart piece which was posted on his own site and linked here only to be taken down shortly thereafter. Some (including, I’ll admit, me) wondered if Stuart had, in his continual skirmishing with the confines of publicity in the service of artmaking, crossed some kind of line with this piece, which incorporated a real interview with a misidentified Werner Herzog (who Stuart painted in 2005, shown here) in the THINKfilm office within a fictional mock documentary on the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 13, 2008
Werner Herzog, Encounters At The End Of The World

WERNER HERZOG AND D.P. PETER ZEITLINGER CAPTURE ANTARCTICA IN ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD. COURTESY THINKFILM. For more than 40 years, Werner Herzog has been redrawing the map, both cinematically and geographically. He started making short films in the mid-1960s, and made an impact internationally with Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), the tale of a mad conquistador’s doomed jungle quest, the first of five collaborations with actor Klaus Kinski. Herzog and Kinski’s relationship was often turbulent and violent, but the ambitious, outlandish and usually unhinged films they made together over the course of the 70s and 80s […]
by Nick Dawson on Jun 11, 2008
WHERE FILM AND INTERNET COLLIDE (AT THE IFC CENTER)

Thursday, June 5, Filmmaker, the IFC, IndieGoGo and the IFP are hosting an evening at the IFC Center that is part of Internet Week New York. It’s called “Where Film and Internet Collide,” and it’s one of three events going under this name that are dedicated to the merging of filmic and web sensibilities when it comes to creating new work. At the IFC we’ll be screening a number of interesting works created for the web and then will be discussing these works and web production in general with their creators. There will be plenty of time for questions, so […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 3, 2008
Parvez Sharma, A Jihad For Love

GAY MUSLIM REFUGEES MEET IN DIRECTOR PARVEZ SHARMA’S A JIHAD FOR LOVE. COURTESY FIRST RUN FEATURES. After a distinguished career as a print and television journalist, Parvez Sharma has made a notable transition to documentary filmmaker. Born and raised in India, Sharma studied English at the University of Calcutta before gaining three film and journalism related masters degrees at universities in India, Britain and the U.S. He spent the nineties as a newspaper reporter in India and then moved on to working for his country’s premier news network, Star News Channel, using his position to draw attention to human rights […]
by Nick Dawson on May 21, 2008

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