Skip to main content

Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 13

By Tom White


From the Netflix series "Afflicted"

Essential Doc Reads is a weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. Here we feature think pieces and important news items from around the Internet, and articles from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy!

Paige Wyant, Associate Chronic Illness Editor for The Mighty, has some things to say about the Netflix docuseries Afflicted.

I originally thought Afflicted was going to shed light on less-known illnesses and elevate the stories and voices of those who struggle with them, but the docuseries did the opposite. Instead of letting people with chronic illness tell their stories, their diagnoses were twisted and painted as being "all in their head" for the audience's entertainment. Those with chronic illness already face so much stigma, judgment and disbelief. The last thing our community needs is popular media perpetuating the idea that our illnesses are made up. It’s incredibly harmful in terms of receiving better support and understanding from loved ones, and I can’t imagine it does anything to help further research.

RealScreen's Selina Chignall talks to filmmakers about how they manage a balance between handling difficult topics and telling a good story.

Documentarians frequently contend with sensitive subject matter in their films, and as such, need to take special care in framing the stories of their subjects with accuracy and empathy. But can that responsibility sometimes get in the way of telling the story?

Filmmaker's Vadim Rizov sits down with Bing Liu for a deep dive in the process of making his groundbreaking documentary Minding the Gap.

I was really taken with how you can embrace the fourth wall, not be on one or the other side of it. You have to open yourself up completely, just to do it. That was also around the time I dug back into the archival footage. It was like, if we're gonna do that technique, I should just show my relationship with these guys but also with the camera. That’s when I pored through hours and hours, looking for Zack, Keire and myself, logging all those.

From Emergence Magazine, filmmaker Kalyanee Mam writes about the inspiration for her latest film, Lost World, which you can watch here.

I remember my first trip to the mangrove forests near the island of Koh Sralau and along Cambodia’s coastline. I had no idea how extensive the mangrove forests were or how spectacular they would be. The forests stretched for miles and miles, carving out small islands, narrow waterways and channels, and ecologically diverse estuaries. I wanted to document the impact of sand dredging on the mangroves and on the lives of the people who live and thrive in these forests and the oceans surrounding them.

DocumentaryBusiness.com's Peter Hamilton gauges Facebook's potential as a player in the OTT space.

I have argued here that unlike traditional media players like Disney and Discovery, Facebook enjoys the financial scale and margins to throw endless buckets of mud against the wall of its video/social media strategy to see what sticks. That's despite the hammering that Facebook's reputation and enterprise value are taking from the Russian election interference and other scandals, as well as the added cost of beefing up its security to prevent future such blowups.

From the Archive—Winter 2018: "A Place at the Table: Filmmakers with Disabilities on Building Careers and Disproving Stereotypes"

Over the years, we've seen the emergence of filmmakers from underrepresented communities, which has brought nuance and authenticity to documentary films. However, one community is still far behind. I'm talking about my community: the disabled community.

 

In the News

Werner Herzog to Headline TIFF Doc Conference

READ MORE

New York Film Festival Announces Convergence Slate

READ MORE

TIFF'S Michele Maheux to Retire

READ MORE

Sheffield Doc/Fest: CEO and Festival Director Steps Down

READ MORE

Rogers Reveals Latest Round of Doc and Cable Network Fund Recipients

READ MORE

CAAM Announces 2018 Documentary Fund Awards

READ MORE

Amazon Is Said To Be in the Running To Acquire Landmark Movie Chain

READ MORE