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! As part of an ongoing symposium on nonfiction and "cinematic reality" at Reverse Shot, Chris Wisniewski considers the affinity between progressive education and Direct Cinema. Both attempt to problematize, minimize, or even eliminate the concept of authority as embodied, alternately, by the teacher or the director
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When we think of documentary, we might not immediately consider its broader uses in transmedia and digital applications. For example, Tracy Fullerton’s Walden, a game, takes us into "a real-time 3D environment, which replicates the geography of Walden Pond and the woods in which Thoreau made his home." The game allows individuals to explore complex humanities themes outlined by Thoreau in a newly immersive environment. Telling Stories with the AIDS Memorial Quilt Project is a work currently in development that will result in web-based "public interactives" that will provide a cultural and
"Man is by nature a political animal," Aristotle famously wrote, but in reality, it takes a special breed of man to be a politician. This is quite evident upon viewing Weiner, a documentary by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg. The Grand Jury Prize winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the film is a captivating roller coaster ride following Anthony Weiner's 2013 New York City mayoral campaign—from his unexpected comeback from political disgrace and rapid ascent as a favorite, to a new round of sexting revelations, leading to his precipitous decline in the polls. By their very nature
This has been called a new Golden Age of documentaries—with more of them being made and experienced by audiences than ever before. It's certainly golden for short docs, which used to dwell in relative obscurity before the Internet opened up unprecedented distribution opportunities. "Online is a natural home for short documentaries because it's a place people go to watch things that are usually shorter in length," says Kathleen Lingo, series producer and curator at The New York Times' Op-Docs, one of a growing number of platforms for the short form."We've run films between one minute and 30
It's tempting to give the short film short shrift. Is less less? Is less more? Or is less the same? Various mechanisms allow the short to transcend its length—shaping the piece according to its internal logic, drilling the story down to its essence, and using only the most potent material, according to the filmmaker's vision. We spoke with seven noted feature filmmakers, who also work in the short form: Jessica Yu won an Academy Award for her short film Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien. Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce made commissioned shorts for ESPN and SundanceNow Doc
Dear IDA Community, In January I had the honor of serving on the US Feature Documentary Jury at the Sundance Film Festival. While the 16 films we saw represent just a slice of the many that are made each year, it was a concentrated and intense overview of how diverse and dynamic documentary films are in both form and content. We selected our winners and honorees, but I don't kid myself that another jury might have easily picked another slate of films to recognize. Juries, like all "taste-making" entities, are ultimately subjective. Even when we try to apply objective criteria, the subjective
Dear Readers, Symptomatic of the digital era is the rapid evolution of new products into must-have commodities. Smart phones and tablets, introduced in 2007 and 2010 respectively, already claim two-thirds of US households. These are tools of communication and community, efficiency and effectiveness, versatility and virtuosity. And over the past four years—after a tentative manifestation in the late 1990s—virtual reality can justifiably proclaim itself as The Next Big Thing to hit the mainstream. First came Facebook's multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Oculus Rift—the brainchild of Palmer
Editor's Note: This article is adapted from the fourth edition of Sheila Curran Bernard's Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen (Focal Press 2016). Audiences often respond to documentary work primarily in terms of its content or issues raised. In some ways, this is a mark of success, in the same way that people binge-watching a television drama may not take the time to notice how carefully the various subplots were constructed over an entire season, or how readers of a terrific mystery novel race through the pages to find out who did it. Done well, craft should feel
I was freaking out about getting married. I had carved out a decade as an indie filmmaker, and I valued my independence in all matters. I wasn't going to be a traditional, self-sacrificing wife and mother like my own mom. I liked my life being all about me. Then, in 1993, I was on the Sundance Documentary Jury and we screened Silverlake Life: The View from Here. Filmmaker Tom Joslin began to shoot the camcorder diary when he and his partner, Mark Massi, were diagnosed with HIV. When Tom got too sick, Mark took up the camera. In the end, one of Tom's former students, Peter Friedman, completed
By Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan We're starting a new documentary project, which means we're having that key early conversation with the people we hope to film. You're asking permission, or inviting them to go on a journey. You don't know yet where you're going or really what you're asking for. Even so, you can guess that their idea of what it means to be filmed is probably way off. The practical, tactical and ethical issues in play can be complex. Our feature documentaries have often involved longitudinal stories filmed over years, during which time we get very close to our subjects and are