Nearly six years ago, in 2016, a story out of Rutherford County, Tennessee became something of a national outrage, although many of us missed the news. Four Black girls — one in sixth grade, two in fourth grade, and one in third grade —were arrested at school for a crime that a recent ProPublica article suggests was illegitimate. Apparently, the children watched and were accused of doing little to stop a “fight” in which a five- and a six-year-old boy threw feeble punches at an older child. And as a result, the children were accused of the trumped-up charge of “criminal responsibility”—for a
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Dear Readers, What the past 20 months have unleashed upon the world underscores the urgency to center trauma and mental health in our ongoing conversations, and in this issue of Documentary. This past winter, we published a first-person account from cinematographer Jenni Morello about her experiences filming in troubled regions—and her struggles to address the traumas that ensued. Morello’s account inspired us to inquire about other trigger-laden phases of documentary filmmaking, such as post-production. We reached out to seasoned editor Miranda Yousef, who discusses her own experiences
Dear Documentary Community, As the documentary financing business model continues to evolve, so have the strategies that filmmakers must pursue in order to secure meaningful funding for their important work. While the first hurdle we all have in common is in being able to actually secure a meeting or gain access to financiers in the nonfiction space, a key part of this process, once you are face-to-face, involves establishing relationships with these funders beyond the transaction. It was already extraordinarily challenging for documentary filmmakers to find the money they needed to make their
When Nick Stuart of the nonprofit multimedia company Odyssey Impact thinks back on the 2016 world premiere of Kim A. Snyder’s Peabody Award-winning documentary Newtown—which tells the story of the community in Newtown, Connecticut, after the mass shooting of schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary School—he remembers a specific conversation with a shuttle driver. “We launched Newtown at Sundance, [where] the busses take people everywhere. They chatter away about what they’ve just seen. There was a bus driver I spoke to who said, ‘After your film, everyone came on to the bus in silence.’ It
Every November, for Native American Heritage Month (NAHM), the US commemorates the contributions, culture and history of Native people. It is also a month to reflect on how to honor the rich knowledge and stewardship passed on for generations by Native people, to which our nation is greatly indebted. Despite the long history of violence and disenfranchisement faced by Native American communities, the many issues that they continue to face today remain invisible to many Americans. Documentary films are one way to shed light on these important stories and to ensure that Indigenous voices are
It was the first day on my new editing gig: a feature documentary about abuse, directed by Amy J. Berg. The AE had delivered the hard drive, the project set up to my requested specifications. I began opening bins and scrubbing through footage, and very shortly ran headlong into very disturbing material: a character roaming around streaked with blood; a series of photos showing the antagonist pretending to stab the protagonist over and over; audio of a woman being beaten and screaming. Caught off-guard, I felt a very old panic rising in my chest, that same terror I used to feel right before a
IDA has announced grants, totaling $75,000, to three vérité short documentaries from Bhutan, Colombia and the United States through its IDA+XRM Media Incubator. The Incubator supports short vérité documentary films from around the globe, with an emphasis on emerging filmmakers and new perspectives.
“Really… I feel reluctant… coming to receive you… as my interviewers or crew… Because ever since my exposure to the camera…. As an internationally acclaimed poet… nothing much has come my way… Despite repeated interviews and exposure to the camera… So, in other words… I’ve become allergic to the camera!” Harrison Cudjoe enters the frame of the 1997 documentary YCP 1997 with these words, which have resonated with Indian documentary filmmakers, Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar. Over nearly three decades of documentary filmmaking, they—like scores of filmmakers who spend months and sometimes
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Sian-Pierre Regis’ Duty Free is the story of the filmmaker teaming up with his 75-year-old mother, Rebecca, to take the trip of a lifetime—checking things off Rebecca’s bucket list of adventures. Join them on their journey as they take us on a fun ride but also remind us of the terrible ways in which the State and the society view elders and do very little for their upkeep and wellness. Watch the film, now streaming on PBS’ Independent Lens. Did you know that in 1992, at the
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. We hope you enjoy! Cinematographer-Director Joan Churchill recently received DOC NYC’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Deadline’s Matthew Carey spoke to Churchill about her career. "With her, the camera is a character," observes her husband and frequent cinematic collaborator, the sound recordist Alan Barker. "It’s a part of the action, and she relates to the people she’s filming while she