Convention is about the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Rather than focus on the charismatic politicians, however, Schnack turns the camera on those behind-the-scenes who made the event possible. He and his team tell the stories of the Denver politicians, city planners, protesters and journalists for whom this spectacular national event is local news. The film weaves together these strands into a striking tapestry of the convention experience. While Convention is saturated in the now-familiar hope and optimism that Obama brought to the nomination, turning the spotlight on how everyday citizens dealt with the DNC provides audiences with a whole new view of it.
Schnack was able to accomplish this by making the film a collaborative effort, pulling in a group of accomplished filmmakers to produce and shoot. Quite a few were in attendance on Tuesday night, including Britta Erickson (Starz Denver Film Festival), Shirley Moyers (Kurt Cobain About a Son, Gigantic), Jennifer Chikes (The Foot Fist Way), Nathan Truesdell and David Wilson (True/False Film Festival). Others not present include Paul Taylor (We Are Together, Rough Aunties), Julie Reichert (A Lion in the House), Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country), Daniel Junge (Chiefs, They Killed Sister Dorothy) and Stephen Bognar (A Lion in the House).
The Convention team at the LAFF screening
At the Q&A following the screening, Schnack said that he'd always wanted to do a collaborative documentary in the tradition of Drew Associates (Crisis, Primary). While attending the University of Missouri, he had led a team of writers and photographers in reporting on the 1998 Iowa caucuses. He had hoped to repeat the experiment at the 2008 caucuses, but the project didn't come together for a variety of reasons. Then a year ago, over drinks at the 2008 LAFF, Schnack, Erickson and Chikes decided that they thought they had both the resources and the moxie to make Convention a reality. At the time, Schnack was also working with Wilson and Truesdell on a documentary set in Branson, MO. What could have been just a cocktail conversation turned into reality as initiative and timing combined, momentum built and as Schnack said, "All the pieces just started coming together."
AJ's only rule for the crew was that they had to be focused on people from Denver. Erickson, a Denver native, had many ties to the local community, something that helped enormously when trying to win over the trust of the city officials and residents. Several of the film's subjects were also in attendance at the screening and Guillermo "Bill" Vidal, Deputy Mayor of Denver, told us that he was a bit apprehensive at the beginning of the filmmaking process. "At first I kept chasing Laura [Poitras] out of the traffic control room," he said. "There was that fear of what if something bad happens and there's a camera there? But most of the time I forgot she was there."
Subject Allison Sherry, a staff writer with the Denver Post, said that the filmmakers were quite kind during filming. She was followed by filmmakers Julia Reichert and Stephen Bognar, and told us that the first thing Bognar taught her was how to turn off her microphone. This came in handy when she got stressed out mid-Convention and high-tailed it to the ladies room for a moment of privacy, sans cameras and co-workers.
A large chunk of the film is focused on a group of activists who founded "Recreate 68," a grassroots umbrella organization that planned and provided support for non-violent demonstrations around the Democratic National Convention in Denver. An audience member asked why the doc gave so much attention to the protestors. Schnack explained that because so much of his subjects' time was spent on dealing with security issues, he felt it was an important part of the behind-the-scenes story. He said, "Afterwards, I thought about what would have happened if it hadn't gone well. If there had been violence. What would the Republicans have said?"
Luckily, there were no mishaps to report, but the constant 'what if' lends the film a sense of suspense that helps to propel it forward. The Convention filmmakers had a few of their own dicey moments while shooting. Schnack told us a story about attempting to exchange digital P2 cards and camera batteries with David Wilson. Schnack was inside the guarded perimeter surrounding the Pepsi Center, while Wilson was stuck outside. As they slipped the goods through a hole the fence, they were yelled at several times by the Secret Service. But that didn’t stop our fearless filmmakers! Said Schnack of his li'l espionage moment, "I felt so alive!"
The challenge of shooting at the DNC was only the first hurdle in making the film. The next was pulling together the varying storylines into a cohesive film. In addition to Drew Associates, Schnack and co-editor Truesdell looked to Robert Altman and Frederick Wiseman for inspiration. In an e-mail, Schnack told me, "I've never made or edited an ensemble piece before and have never had to juggle so many characters. I looked to Altman's films to give a sense of pacing as well as a feel for how to balance the various storylines. Also, once we get into the week of the convention, we use less music than in the set-up, there are more hard cuts and overlapping audio, which I think was influenced greatly by Altman.
Wiseman is obviously an influence, both in looking at the inner workings of an event/institution as well as the relationship between "the state" and "the people". Our film may be more hopeful in this latter regard than much of Wiseman's work and I think that some of our stylistic and narrative decisions deviate from what one would think of as Wiseman's method."
With two films about musicians under his belt, Schnack has always employed music as a key storytelling element, and Convention is no exception. One might expect a film that captures such a specific moment in time to use music of the era, but Schnack goes the other way. His choices range from standards such as "Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy" and Gershwin's "Dawn of a New Day," to Gilbert and Sullivan selections such as the "Overture" from H.M.S. Pinafore. Schnack said that when he and Truesdell were editing the film, he found a series of songs that had been composed for the 1908 Democratic Convention, which was also held in Denver.
"We started using these tracks, which we really loved and which matched the upbeat, almost whimsical quality of the early part of the film," he said. "From here, we dug into Depression-era music of the first part of the 20th century - Gershwin, Milton Ager, Barbecue Bob...But the 1908 songs kept reminding me of Gilbert and Sullivan, and I think there is a kind of operetta quality to Convention, so the use of their music felt particularly appropriate to me. Also, because of the scope of the film, the way in which we are seeing the lives of all of these people against this huge backdrop, Gilbert and Sullivan feels right - it can be both intimate and epic."
Intimate and epic are good words to describe Convention - a huge national event distilled into pristine moments that add up to create a dynamic whole. As Obama spoke about teamwork from the podium in Denver, the filmmaking team behind Convention put those words into action on the ground, proving that working together can, indeed, bear magnificent fruit.
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died today at the age of 50 after suffering a heart attack and being found unconscious in his Los Angeles home.
Jackson's lifetime of hits saw him selling more than 750 million albums worldwide, inventing dance moves and being surrounded by controversy and rumors regarding surgical procedures, his relationships with children (his own and others) and his constant Peter Pan outlook on life.
Through it all, the loyal fans supported Jackson no matter what. The fandom was captured in the 2006 documentary Camp Michael Jackson following the devoted as Jackson stood trial for child sexual abuse. See a trailer here.
Jackson was profiled by British journalist Martin Bashir for the very popular 2003 TV doc, Living with Michael Jackson, which started innocently enough, before Jackson's camp questioned Bashir's content and motives. Here's a peek into happier times for Jackson:
Farrah Fawcett passed away this morning at the age of 62 after losing a battle with cancer. The American actress, founding member of TV's Charlie's Angels and international beauty icon known for her good looks, hair and pinup posters has been honored in many print and online obituaries (Los Angeles Times and the New York Times to name a few)--and will also be remembered on air with news and a BIO Channel special.
Tonight, Dateline NBC will air a special tribute to Fawcett called Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel at 10 p.m. ET. In addition to a look at Farrah's life and her battle with cancer, the hour-long special will share recent interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Alana Stewart, her dad, sister, fellow Charlie's Angel Kate Jackson, and never before aired parts of a 1997 interview with Stone Phillips.
Then on Friday, June 26 at 9 p.m. ET, NBC News will re-broadcast Farrah's Story, a two-hour documentary about Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer that she shot with her own video camera over the past two and a half years. The special first aired last month on NBC.
On Monday June 29, the BIO Channel will commemorate her life with BIO Remembers: Farrah Fawcett at 10 p.m. ET. The special will tell the actress' story from her rural upbringing in Corpus Christi through her life in Hollywood and beyond.
See NY Times video of Farrah Fawcett and Farrah's Story here.
A working print of the incomplete film, Sins of Commission, has been subpoenaed by the California Coastal Commission, the very entity the doc takes on.
Filmmaker Richard Oshen says the CCC "misrepresents environmental protection policies for their own aggrandizement, and in the process, creates a hazardous situation for all Californians." See the trailer here.
Oshen says the actions are a violation of his First Amendment rights and a blatant attempt by the commission to silence the film.
No matter what the commission says regarding their demand for the film…the commission’s history, revealed for the first time in Sins of Commission, clearly shows how the California Coastal Commission obscures their real motives and objectives.
They simply want the film blocked, and will go to any length to accomplish their goal--even if it means violating the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution to do it.
The story was picked by KNBC Los Angeles news, see the report here:
Judge the film for yourself. Sins of Commission is set to screen at the 2009 West Hollywood International Film Festival, August 5-8.
As part of Hulu's second annual Hulu Days of Summer promotion and in conjunction with tonight’s NBA Draft, the site is exclusively providing online access to Gunnin' for That #1 Spot. The film, directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, follows eight of the top 24 high school basketball players in the country on and off the court as they prepare to showcase their abilities during the “Elite 24” all-star game played at the most legendary basketball playground in the world, Rucker Park.
Rucker Park, long considered to be modern basketball’s Mecca, is in Harlem, New York. Almost every notable NBA player from Wilt Chamberlin to Michael Jordan to LeBron James has played there. Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot was filmed in 2006 and features a number of players who will be selected during the NBA Draft tonight, including likely No. 6 overall pick Tyreke Evans
See the documentary via Hulu right here:
The Hulu Blog also features an exclusive Q&A with Gunnin' for That #1 Spot's director Adam Yauch.
Additionally, the site is featuring On Any Sunday, a classic motorcycle racing documentary that follows the lives of motorcycle racers and racing enthusiasts, including actor Steve McQueen. Directed by Bruce Brown (The Endless Summer), the film looks at the people who devote (and sometimes risk) their lives to racing on tracks and off-road courses around the world, asking the question "Why do they do it?”
CINE is thrilled to announce that we have entered a pioneering distribution partnership with SnagFilms, the innovative online distribution system and only broadband platform dedicated to bringing documentary films to a wide audience SnagFilms over the internet. Founded by visionary entrepreneur and filmmaker Ted Leonsis, recipient of CINE’s 2009 Trailblazer Award, SnagFilms.com is a website that not only permits viewers to watch documentary films for free, but allows them to “snag” films and put them anywhere on the web through viral distribution. Since its launch last July, SnagFilms virtual movie theatre widgets have been viewed over 700 million times.
Winners of the CINE Golden Eagle, Special Jury and Masters Awards in several of CINE’s documentary categories since 2004 will receive letters in the upcoming weeks providing more information about this opportunity for distribution on SnagFilms’ CINE channel. If your documentary film won a CINE award prior to 2004, you may contact us if you are interested in pursuing this opportunity.
Now winning a CINE Award for documentary film not only means receiving the recognition that goes with the prestigious CINE name, but affords these films the unprecedented opportunity to reach a wider, international audience and to benefit from the new revenue source of ad-supported streaming.
CINE has been giving filmmakers wings for over fifty years. We are delighted to join with SnagFilms in creating a whole new flight path.
For more on CINE along with a video interview with Rick Allen click here.
Update: Robert Kenner will host another Twitter chat at 10 a.m. PST on Thursday 6/25. Read below to learn how to take part.
Got some questions about Food, Inc., the doc that takes a tough look at the industrial production of meat, grains and vegetables, in the U.S. and the economic and legal power of the major food companies?
Got a Twitter account?
Good, then make sure to catch a live Twitter chat with the doc's director Robert Kenner this Friday (June 19) at 10 am PST.
The film opened in select markets last week and now that some have seen it, the filmmakers want to interact with the movie's fans.
It's simple to participate. At 10am PST this Friday login to twitter and put #foodinc in the search bar and hit enter. You will then be following the conversation. If you have a question, be sure to include the #foodinc tag. This way the question will stay on this thread.
In the meantime, check out the Documentary magazine online exclusive article about Food, Inc.
Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove is having quite the response at film festivals. Six months after winning the documentary audience award in Sundance, the film--which investigates the slaughter of dolphins in Japan--has managed an impressive list of honors: This past weekend, it won audience awards at Nantucket, SILVERDOCS, and Sydney, adding to its pile from Hot Docs, and Seattle. Six audience awards from some highly reputable fests is no small feat.
“I’ve probably seen the movie a 100 times since we finished it and I never get tired of audience’s reaction to the last 20 minutes,” Psihoyos told indieWIRE today. “People laugh, they cry, they’re enraged, they’re engaged, they cheer and are transported to a place where they feel emboldened to make a difference. Seeing The Cove is a full body experience in that it engages your heart and your brain.”
The Cove follows a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry (of Flipper fame), who infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan, to expose both an intense example of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health. “Environmental documentaries suffer from the paradigm set forth by the success of An Inconvenient Truth,” indieWIRE‘s Eric Kohn said in his Sundance review. “That means the genre is typically perceived as a haven for long-winded soapbox stands and dry moralizing under the guise of big screen entertainment. Louise Psihoyos’s riveting dolphin documentary ‘The Cove’ offers the ideal alternative: It’s both an educational work of art and a classic espionage tale.”
Psihoyos believes that audiences are responding to several unique structures of The Cove. “First, the film plays more like a thriller than a doc,” he explained, “from the opening line the audience knows we are going to break laws to penetrate this secret cove. Then to accomplish this mission we had to set up a kind of Ocean’s Eleven team of elite activists, from the model makers at George Lucas’ workshop at ILM (now Kerner Optical) to world champion freedivers, we employ a high tech surveillance gear from a fleet of unmanned drones to military grade thermal cameras which appeals to the youth group which crave action and adventure.”
He also acknowledged the “universal appeal across all demographics” of dolphins and whales, as well as the emotional punch of many of the film’s sequences. “[The scene] with Mandy rarely leaves a dry eye in the house among both women and men and we are barely thirty minutes into the film,” he said. ” And the back story of our hero Richard O’Barry, who trained Flipper, has a emotional appeal to people of all ages. His personal quest for redemption against overwhelming odds is endearing to everyone. He is proof that the passion of one individual can change the world. And that message is particularly important right now when people feel it is so difficult, or impossible for one person to make a difference.”
The film will be released in theaters on July 31st and Psihoyos is hopeful its festival success should translate in its theatrical release. “The Cove is not $10 and a box of popcorn,” he said. “It’s film being used as the most powerful weapon in the world--the power to change a wrong.”
This news item is brought to you by a special partnership between the IDA and indieWIRE and SnagFilms.
October Country, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher's multi-generational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war, captured the Sterling US Feature Award at the recently concluded SilverDocs. The jury praised the work as "a film that is subtle and intuitively creative while presenting important social issues in a surprising way. It showcases an extraordinary fresh talent, which left us excited to see what they do next."
Here's a complete run-down of the SilverDocs honors:
Sterling US Feature Award: October Country (Dirs.: Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher)
Sterling World Feature Award: Mugabe and the White African (Dirs.: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson)
Sterling Short Award: 12 Notes Down (Dir.: Andreas Koefoed)
Special Jury Mention: Salt (Dirs.: Michael Angus, Murray Fredericks)
Music Documentary Award: Riseup (Dir.: Luciano Blotta)
Special Jury Mention: Soul Power (Dir.: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte)
Cinematic Vision Award: Old Partner (Dir.: Lee Chung-ryoul)
WITNESS Award: Good Fortune (Dir.: Landon Van Soest)
Writers Guild of America Documentary Screenplay Award: Off and Running (Wtr./Dir.: Nicole Opper)
ACE Grant Winner: Cinema Chimp (Dir.: David Grabias)
Feature Audience Award: The Cove (Dir.: Louie Psihoyos)
Short Audience Award: 12 Notes Down (Dir.: Andreas Koefoed)
Beyond the official awards, indieWIRE picked nine great moments from the film fest. Read 'em here.
Filmmaker James Longley remains in Iran amid the historic post-election uprising, and while not filming what has transpired, he has ample impressions and observations in this interview with Adrianna Dunn of Participant Media's TakePart blog:
http://www.takepart.com/blog/2009/06/19/from-iran-qa-with-documentary-filmmaker-james-longley/