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William Cheng

Headshot of adult of East Asian descent with medium-light skin; short hair; dark blue polo shirt; in front of grassy field

William Cheng is a writer, pianist, and gamer. He is a professor of music at Dartmouth College and a founding co-editor of the Music & Social Justice Series with the University of Michigan Press.

Articles

A man stands at the top of stairs while birds fly around him. All images from Shaunak Sen’s ‘All That Breathes.’ Courtesy of Cinetic Media.
Shaunak Sen's 'All That Breathes': A Great Gray Triangulation of Air, Birds and Men
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Headshot of a young white woman with long black hair and a black top in front of a purple wall. On the left side of the picture, we see Woman (in green), Life (in white), and Freedom (in red).
IDA Member Spotlight: Nazanin Nematollahi
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Two women, both with long brown hair and wearing sleeveless vests, perform on their electric guitars in a field of uncut wheat and grass. From Rita Baghdadi's 'Sirens," which is showing in theaters through Oscilloscope Laboratories. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories .
Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 21, 2022
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A red horizontal stripe runs through an image of a man standing on an icy landscape wielding a harpoon towards the water. Photo courtesy of ‘Nanook of the North.’
The 100-Year Stain of 'Nanook of the North'
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A black-and-white photo booth shot of a mother holding her toddler. Images from Jonathan Caouette’s Tarnation. Courtesy of Wellspring Media
Jonathan Caouette's 'Tarnation'
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Happy Oliveros (left) stands with his hands on his hips; he wears a royal blue shirt, a red baseball cap and sunglasses; Carlos O. González (right) wearing a royal blue jersey, LA Dodgers cap and white pants, winds up to pitch. Both men--nativHappy Oliveros (left) rests with his hands on his hips, while Carlos O. González (right) winds up to pitch. Both men are risking their life and exile pursuing MLB contracts, many of which will never transpire into anything tangible. Photo courtesy of ‘The Last Out’.
Doc Stars of the Month: Happy Oliveros, Carlos O. González and Victor Baró, 'The Last Out'
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A woman wearing a hijab stands on a podium looking out at a crowd. Photo: Capital-K Pictures. Courtesy of POV.
Screen Time: Week of October 17, 2022
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A mother from the mama bears movement hugs a person wearing a black backpack with rainbow pride flags hanging from it during a pride celebration. Photo courtesy of Mama Bears.
Taking 'Mama Bears' on the Road and Seeing Love Win
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A woman in a white dress dances while people clap around her. From Mathew Ramirez Warren’s 'We Like It Like That.' Courtesy of 'We Like It Like That' and 'America ReFramed.'
Screen Time: Week of October 3, 2022
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A crosswalk shows a shadow of a man using an electric wheelchair as a person walks ahead. Photo courtesy of Reid Davenport.
Doc Star of the Month: Reid Davenport, 'I Didn't See You There'
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Four women sit on stage in discussion at a panel on distribution at DOC NYC 2021. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
Determining Another Definition: Towards a Subversive, Transparent Distribution System
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The Nonfiction Core Application: An image of a woman with brown skin holding a camera outdoors, courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The Non-Fiction Core Application 2.0
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Tata Balladares and other para-enforcers pose with a chainsaw they have confiscated and dismantled. From Karl Malakunas' 'Delikado.' Photo: Karl Malakunas
Defending the Rainforest in the Philippines: 'Delikado' Means Danger
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The Logan Elevate Grantees for 2022: (left to right) Paige Bethmann, an Indigneous woman with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a floral-print sweatshirt; Zippy Kimundu, an African woman with dreads, wearing a short-sleeved button-down white shirt; and Chelsea Hernandez, a Latinx woman with short dark hair, wearing a black shirt. .
Meet the Logan Elevate Grantees
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Outgoing DOC NYC Artistic Director Thom Powers (left) is a white man with grey hair and glasses and a blue botton-down shirt. DOC NYC’s new artistic director, Jaie Laplante (right) is a white man with white hair and a purple botton-down shirt. Photo courtesy of Thom Powers.
Changing of the Guard at DOC NYC: Thom Powers Passes the Baton to Jaie Laplante
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Two medical workers from Yung Chang’s ‘Wuhan Wuhan’ wear masks, bodysuits, and face shields with printed images of themselves on their chests in order to still be recognizable under all their safety wear. Courtesy of Stars Collective Films Entertainment Group Inc.
As 'POV' Turns 35, Executive Producer Erika Dilday Speaks about the PBS Nonfiction Showcase
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Participants at Filamu Za Kina Dada Uongozini, a film training & production workshop program for female filmmakers courtesy of Media Focus on Africa (MFA) in partnership with Docubox. Photo courtesy of Docubox.
Kenya's Docubox Builds a Thriving Doc Community in East Africa
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Rea Tajiri, standing in front of a mirror, wearing a black t-shirt, glasses, and a necklace with her hair tied up, smiling.
IDA Member Spotlight: Rea Tajiri
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Anand Patwardhan, an Indian man with long white hair, seated atop a van that is moving through the street, is filming 'Jai Bhim Comrade' (2011). Courtesy of Anand Patwardhan. Photo: Priyanka Borpujari
Anand Patwardhan Will Not Give Up Hope
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Camden International Film Festival programmers: (left to right) Zara Meerza, Milton Guillén, and Zaina Bseiso. Courtesy of Camden International Film Festival
The Balancing Act of Impact: A Conversation with the CIFF Team.
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Left to Right: Keisha Knight (IDA Director of Funds), Brian J. Davis (IDA Development Director), Maria A. Santos (IDA Funds Program Officer), Grace Lee (IDA Board Co-President), Rick Pérez (IDA Executive Director). Photo Credit: Laura Ann Ahmed.
Notes from the Reel World, Fall 2022
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A red overlay on a mirrored image of David Bowie singing into a mic, from ‘Moonage Daydream.’ Photo courtesy of NEON.
'Moonage Daydream': Brett Morgen Presents The David Bowie Experience
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Getting Real ‘22’s programmers: (from left to right) Chris Boeckmann, Abby Sun, and Jonathan Ali.
Getting Real '22: The Documentary Surround
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A black-and-white photo shows Chol Soo Lee, an Asian American man, smiling outside of a car after being released from prison, From Julia Ha and Eugene Yi's ‘Free Chol Soo Lee.’ Photo courtesy of Grant Din/ITVS.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of September 09, 2022
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IDA Board Newsletter | Fall 2022
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Reveca Torres is a Mexican-American female filmmaker, seen here filming in a large room. She is filming three participants, one of whom is a wheelchair user. Image courtesy of Reveca Torres.
Calling the Shots from a Wheelchair: A Filmmaker Reflects
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Archival photo of a Japanese family as they await a train that will take them to an internment camp. From Ken Burns’ ‘The U.S. and the Holocaust.’ Photo by Dorothea Lange. Image courtesy of PBS.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of September 02, 2022
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A crowd gathers at one of Ambulante’s many activities and screenings through the years. Photo courtesy of Delia Martinez.
Ambulante's Post-COVID Reemergence: A Renewed Commitment to Community, But a Divide between Leadership and Workers
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'Family Pictures USA' artist Thomas Allen Harris, left, a Black man with glasses and a blue button-down shirt, displays family photographs belonging to North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, a Black woman with copper-colored curly hair. round glasses and a black dress, and her cousin, Sterling Michael Holt., a Black man with white hair and white mustache, glasses, waring a green sweater and holding a family photograph. Harris' 'Family Pictures USA' project co-creates a living and growing famil
Co-Creation As a Democratic Act: A Conversation with Katerina Cizek and Thomas Allen Harris
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Black and white image of Habu Abdella, a young Ethiopian woman holding a stem of khat leaves. From Jessica Beshir's 'Faya Dayi.' Courtesy of Feyatey LLC
Screen Time: Week of August 29, 2022
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Las Vegas labor activist Ruby Duncan, a Black woman with an afro, wearing a leather jacket, leads a demonstration. From Hazel Gurland-Pooler's 'Storming Caesars Palace,' which won the Shine Award at BlackStar Film Festival. Courtesy of BlackStar Film Festival
BlackStar Is the North Star for BIPOC Media Artists
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The Mulka Collective at work; two women sit with a camera facing toward an older woman. Photo courtesy of Mulka Collective
Australia's Mulka Project and Karrabing Film Collective: Making Films for and with First Nations Communities
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Fast Foreword, The Editor's Column, Summer 2022
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The Working Films staff poses in front of a blue house: (Standing L-R) Molly Murphy, Andy Myers, Anna Lee, Gerry Leonard, Stephanie Avery. (Seated L-R) Hannah Hearn, Amalia Renteria. Photo by Tory Silinski.
The Art of Building a Road: Working Films' New Organizational Structure and a Future of Shared Power
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Caption: A collage of family photos of the director Edward Buckles Jr. From Edward Buckles Jr.’s ‘Katrina Babies.’ Courtesy of HBO Max
Screen Time: Week of August 22, 2022
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The cover of 'India Retold: Dialogues with Independent Documentary Filmmakers in India,' a compilation of commentary from 30 contemporary documentary filmmakers, is red, with black-and-white photos.
India's Truthtellers: A Half-Century of Independent Doc-Making in a Turbulent Political Landscape
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Three African girls sit in a room with a turquoise background as one shows her phone. From Ousmane Samassékou’s 'The Last Shelter.' Photo courtesy of STEPS.
How Generation Africa Is Changing the Narrative of Migration in African Communities
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Black-and-white screengrab from a film produced by India's Films Division. It reads "Documentary Films of India Presents."
Saving India's History: Archive Merger Poses Numerous Problems
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Puhipau, a man holding a mic and wearing headphones, and Joan Lander, a woman holding a camera and smiling, filming in 1989. Courtesy of Joan Lander
Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina Celebrates 40 Years of Amplifying the Voices of Hawai'i
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Neidinha Bandeira, an environmental activist, bathes in a river in the Amazon rainforest. From Alex Pritz’s ‘The Territory.’ Photo courtesy of National Geographic.
'The Territory' Strikes a Balance of Filmmaking Power
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Women sit and laugh among a heap of onions in a marketplace. From Kiro Russo’s ‘El Gran Movimiento.’ Courtesy of Cinema Tropical.
Kiro Russo's 'El Gran Movimiento': A 21st Century Response to Vertov's Symphony
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Leo Baker, a white person with buzz-cut hair, smiles toward the ground while holding a neon green skateboard deck. From Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reda’s ‘Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story,. Photo courtesy of Netflix.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of August 12, 2022
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An array of items that Jessica Beshir takes along in her Kata Pro-Light camera bag when she's in production.
Inside Out: Jessica Beshir
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Four Chinese dissidents--one woman and three men--dressed in suits, stand in New York City's Battery Park. From 1989 footage from the suspended project 'Tiananmen/China Today.' Courtesy of Christine Choy
'The Exiles' and How Resurrected Footage Tests the Balance of Memory
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An older man with glasses and gray hair wearing a plaid shirt and blazer stands outside a storefront. He points at the camera while talking. From Errol Morris' Vernon, Florida. Courtesy of Criterion Collection.
Playback: Errol Morris' 'Vernon, Florida'
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A Black woman with short curly hair stands in front of a red background, bare-shouldered and staring at the camera. From Juliana Kasumu’s Baby Bangz: Black Power in Hair.
Screen Time: Week of August 8, 2022
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Mable Haddock is a Black woman with a brown headband and a black shirt; she is seated at a table at a conference. Courtesy of Sharon La Cruise.
Remembering Mable Haddock: Fierce Advocate, Unforgettable Leader, Guardian of Collective Legacy
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A woman, with her back to the viewer, stands before a triptych of paintings of a World War II-era Japanese American family. From 'Emerging Radiance,' created by filmmaker Tani Ikeda and artist Michelle Kumata. Courtesy of Tribeca Festival.
From AR to VR: A Documentary for Every Reality
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Notes From the Reel World, Rick Pérez
Notes from the Reel World, Summer 2022
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Kirsten Kleist Petersen is a young woman wearing a gray shirt. She is sitting on a chair by a window and petting her cat. From Sidse Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog’s ‘Winter’s Yearning.’ Courtesy of 'POV.'
Screen Time: Week of August 1, 2022
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