Beyond This Place

The father–son relationship can be a fragile truce, with both parties careful to stay within the boundaries of a long-negotiated treaty.  Certain subjects are safe, while others are just not talked about.  But what if you have had almost no contact with your father since he left your family thirty years before?  Kaleo La Belle, the director of BEYOND THIS PLACE, grapples with this question when he sets out on a 500-mile bike trip with his hippie father, Cloud Rock.

Psychedelic drugs and bicycling are the two things that Cloud Rock has devoted his life to, and Kaleo spends the movie trying to get to know and understand his father.  He says in the Q&A posted on the SilverDocs website: “As a filmmaker, I am interested in what makes a person who they are, the crutches, vices, genius and uniqueness of each individual, in their complexity, the juxtaposition between who we are, and who we want to be.”  Along with the bicycling with his father, Kaleo goes in search of those who can help him appreciate Cloud Rock’s choices.  He visits aging hippies on Maui and in San Francisco, who were members of the commune where he was born, and then to his mother in snowy Detroit.

After thirty years of separation, Kaleo and Cloud Rock need to find the common on which to build their own peace treaty.  Perhaps Kaleo’s relationship with his own young children will let him see Cloud Rock’s choice through the eyes of a father, and not a son.  But maybe Cloud Rock’s stubborn refusal to accept any responsibility for Kaleo’s childhood will corrode whatever bridge is built between the two. It is an inside look at one example of the complicated nature that is the father–son bond.

I was fortunate to watch this film as a screener for SilverDocs, and I have been mulling it over ever since.  Interestingly, while searching for more information about the film, I learned about a novel with the same title from 1953.  In the novel, a young man goes searching for the father he had never met.  He meets his father’s old friends who relate stories about his father, who is in prison and not allowed to have visitors.  Is Cloud Rock La Belle locked in the solitary confinement of drugs?  See for yourself at the two screenings of BEYOND THIS PLACE: Tuesday, June 22, 9:30pm, and Thursday, June 24, 4:00pm.

— Matthew Radcliff is the organizer for the WIFV Documentary Roundtable and a son fortunate to have picked a great father.  Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

Curmudgeons and Angels

The elderly get a bad reputation.  Take Herbert Sepp, the star of WORLD CHAMPION.  Anyone who saw the 83 year-old Estonian in a park yelling at children for riding their bikes in the long jump area would think him a crotchety old man.  That’s what the kids think until they watch, mesmerized, as he stands on his head to warm up for his pole vaulting practice.  Similarly, when these kids see a nun, they probably think of mysterious religious rituals.  But THE VEIL looks behind the scenes at the funny, joyful women who populate an Italian convent.  These two delightful documentaries prove that there’s much more to these oldsters than meets the eye.
WORLD CHAMPION follows Sepp as he trains to become a world champion pole vaulter.  His old age does not deter him, though he gripes that he needs to save money because his pension alone is not enough.  Still, Sepp’s sunny demeanor allows him to shrug off every setback, and his joy is infectious.  During some downtime before the competition, Sepp pulls out an accordion and starts serenading his competitors.  “When it gets boring, one needs to fill the atmosphere,” he explains.  Sepp does just that throughout this delightful film, filling the screen with his warmth, good nature, and quirky sense of humor. Sepp has no qualms about stripping down to his underwear in front of the camera while doing his morning strength training routine, and he talks frankly about the health benefits of sex.  Although the nuns of THE VEIL  never take off their habits, they still bare it all in their own way.
THE VEIL follows a couple days in the lives of the sisters in an Italian convent.  Instead of depicting their religious rituals, director Mattia Colombo focuses on the more mundane aspects of their lives, such as reading the newspaper, sewing, and playing cards.  But what most stands out is their senses of humor.  Throughout the film, the sisters good-naturedly tease each other about everything from their sewing skills to the virtues of patience.  At one point, they even dance to the song “Y.M.C.A.,” which is quite a sight.
Although most of the nuns in THE VEIL are elderly, the film also follows a young nun who is new to the convent.  She tells the heartwarming story of how, as a young girl, the nuns treated her so lovingly when she spent time with them after mass.  When the older nuns tailor her new habit, joke with her about letting her “husband” see the dress before the wedding, and give her advice on how to wear the veil, it’s clear that they still love her.
Both these films offer a light-hearted look at some elderly people who are anything but the stereotypical old curmudgeon.  Whether they pursue a pole vaulting title or a life serving God, these old folks show that life can be filled with joy, excitement, and love at any age.
WORLD CHAMPION will be screened with MEN WHO SWIM, a film about a middle-aged man who joins a synchronized swimming team.
THE VEIL will be shown with HOLYWARS a film about a Muslim and a Christian who travel the world, spreading their different faiths.  Check out these films and be prepared to be surprised.

— Meredith Metcalf

Under the Not-So-Big Top

Maybe I subconsciously look for this theme in many of the films that come to the Silverdocs Screening Committee, but it does seem that we received a significant number of documentaries this year that deal with carrying on long-established traditions in the face of a rapidly-changing world.  If, however, I had to cite one documentary in the current festival line-up that really ran with the topic of maintaining traditions (and the potential price paid in doing so), it would be Aaron Schock’s poignant CIRCO.

Let me say up front that while I respect the circus, I can usually take it or leave it.  So I was pleasantly surprised when the skillfully-structured CIRCO forced me into a heartfelt reexamination of the hard work, dedication, and relentless sacrifice required to keep this time-honored art form alive.  More importantly, the longer I watched CIRCO, the more it became apparent that the central story is not so much about the circus, but about a family enduring the rigors of running a business and the ways in which the inherent challenges can either strengthen or weaken relationships.  As Schock notes, ‘I encountered a family working extremely hard to run a small business and to maintain some control over their destiny with the cultural resources passed down to them through the generations.’

We see the Ponces fulfilling all of the roles in the century-old family-run circus that they drive from town to town throughout rural Mexico: they are at once the proprietors, producers, performers, and roadies.  Patriarch Tino struggles to keep the modest circus afloat, aided by his four young children, each of whom pull double duty as both roustabouts and featured acts.  In the background is Tino’s dedicated wife Yvonne, who valiantly attempts to hold together both family and business.  The challenges faced by all are evident from the beginning of the film.  Not only are the drives exhausting and the set-ups arduous, but the little downtime afforded the children is usually spent perfecting their performing skills.  We quickly get a sense that these children have sacrificed a normal childhood for the greater good of the business and the medium of the circus.  Not only is Tino gradually forced to re-think whether or not all of these hardships are serving his family’s best interest, but he faces the additional pressure of trying to please his aging father, from whom he has inherited this mini-dynasty (at one point late in the film, we find out to what degree the Ponce’s circus actually is a dynasty).  Financial pressures, questioning the relevance of the circus as a viable modern-day medium, grappling with the problem of how to provide one’s children with the best possible life; all of these issues eventually place a strain on the Ponce family that threatens to destroy their once-solid bond.

Despite the emphasis on the family’s difficulties, there are plenty of delightful scenes that show the performers’ talent, dedication, and enthusiasm for their craft; the Ponces appear to love performing, and their small audiences are genuinely appreciative.  And be on the lookout for the inspired (if not eerily prescient) way in which Schock bookends the opening of the film with the final scene.

But the uniqueness and exceptional heart of CIRCO is the masterful way in which Schock interweaves the themes of family sacrifice and tension, commitment to tradition and excellence, and the value of passion for the preservation of a potentially-fading art form.  ‘My hope,’ writes Schock ‘is that CIRCO tells a universal story while allowing the audience to enter into and learn about a specific family, tradition and country.’  Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and buy your tickets now!

—  Chuck Willett

ON COAL RIVER

With the recent wave of social justice and children-competition docs hitting festivals and gaining distribution, it felt a little like some filmmakers were on the prowl to find that new cause, event or under reported problem to expose and then rapidly make a movie about it.

Organically finding a topic, putting in the time to capture it and then telling a strong story was taking a backseat to this formulaic process, which came about after a few successful docs of this nature and with the rise of reality TV.  Adams Wood and Francine Cavanaugh’s film ON COAL RIVER has both kids and a cause but their film defies formula and relies solely on intimate, first-person, storytelling.

ON COAL RIVER isn’t the first documentary about mountain top removal mining but its timing, the film’s setting and its characters are what make its stand out from the rest.  It’s acutely evident how the people in the film trusted the filmmakers, allowing them total access into their lives and situations.  This kind of trust doesn’t come from an out-of-town production company, rolling in with their cameras for three day shoot.

Wood and Cavanaugh became fixtures in this WV community while compiling hundreds of hours of footage over the 6 years it took to shoot and edit their film.  From all that they managed to tell four intimate stories and give a sense of what life in West Virginia is like amidst this complicated issue.  By choosing not to showcase what Mountain Top Removal literally is, but instead profiling who and how its dramatically affecting the real people in this community who live on the front line of this world-wide issue, makes this film both heartwrenching and powerful. Buy your tickets today.

SPECIAL FREE SCREENING Friday 6/25 4:30PM
Direct from New York City, Reverend Billy and The Mountain Top Choir celebrate the World Premiere screening of ON COAL RIVER with an outdoor performance on the Heavenly Blue Staircase, downtown Silver Spring plaza.

— Rod Murphy lives with his wife and two children in Asheville, North Carolina where he (www.614films.com) produces music videos, corporate videos and independent films.  He has won multiple awards and received several grants for his documentary features GREATER SOUTHBRIDGE and RANK STRANGERS.

His work has been screened in over 35 film festivals internationally and seen on PBS, The Sundance Channel and IFC.   He is currently in production with actor/producer Andi MacDowell on a new documentary.  His third feature documentary, BEING THE DIABLO is premiering on the film festival circuit in the summer of 2010.

GOODBYE, HOW ARE YOU?

As a member of the 2010 Silverdocs Screening Committee, I previewed several films this year whose oddball characters and comic scenarios had me laughing out loud. Most of the time, the onset of laughter was immediate. But  in GOODBYE, HOW ARE YOU? (aka “Aphocalypse Now”), an inventive collage of absurd images and deadpan narration, the effect was more one of delayed laughter. Serbian director Boris Mitic has crafted a different kind of comic documentary, one which he calls “satirical verite,” in which jests from a fictional narrator are wielded adroitly as weapons of resistance against corruption, oppression and war.

Equal parts Samuel Beckett and Chris Marker, “Goodbye, How Are You?” draws inspiration from the satirical aphorism, a literary device that gained popularity in post-World War II Eastern Europe and whose  best known practitoners in the former Yugoslavia are the members of the Belgrade Aphoristic Circle. These aphorisms are darkly sardonic one- or two-liners with a subversive twist. They often offer up a paradox or Hobson’s Choice. And they’re funny.

To whet your appetite for Mitic’s challenging, but rewarding, film, here’s a small selection of the Aphoristic Circle’s witticisms (some included in the film, some not):

Our country is in transition…It is disappearing from the map.

Nothing should slow us down…that’s why we have not opened our parachutes.

The war criminal has double-parked…Such a thing cannot go unpunished in this country.

The enemy surprised us again…We expected that he would attack first!

Judging by your voice, I would say that you are not from around here…Here nobody would dare to utter a single word.

They are applying a sticks and carrots policy…First they beat us with sticks, then with carrots.

Click here to watch the trailer, buy your tickets (and read a Q&A with the filmmaker by clicking on “extras”).

— Edward Engel

For All You Shorts Lovers Out There…

Silverdocs – STERLING SHORT COMPETITION

Short films, like short stories, are a too often overlooked genre of art, expression and information. Silverdocs 2010 continues its tradition of offering up some of the best short documentaries from around the globe. Compressing all of the impact of their longer form brethren into just a few moments, these films – poems to longer films novels – often create an explosion of exhileration, recognition or understanding.

Short Film Jury: Ben Fowlie, Founding Director, Camden International Film Festival; Elena Fortes, Director, Ambulante Documentary Film Festival; Aron Gaudet, Filmmaker (THE WAY WE GET BY)

Note the FREE noontime shorts screenings, Tue 6/22 – Fri 6/25.

Click on the film titles to learn more and buy tickets…
ALBERT’S WINTER / Denmark, 2009, 30 minutes (Director: Andreas Koefad)—A young boy struggles to deal with his mother’s devastating terminal cancer. As the illness lingers unspoken in the background, Albert goes through the motions of his day-to-day life but knows that something is terribly wrong.

ARIRANG – LETTER TO BARACK / Germany/North Korea, 2010, 8 minutes (Director: Gerd Conradt)—The world appears very different from inside the hermit kingdom of North Korea. Huge mosaics created by one hundred thousand schoolchildren holding aloft colored cards in unison are a source of national pride, but so is the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. Pageantry and atomic blasts are juxtaposed in this chilling thought piece.

ARSY-VERSY / Slovakia, 2009, 24 minutes (Director Miro Remo)—Lubos is a happy-go-lucky 50-something who lives with his aging mother in what some would call a codependent relationship. The film takes a unique look at a mother-son relationship and the way in which Lubos lives his free-spirited life, like the title says, upside down.

BETWEEN DREAMS / Finland/France/Russian Federation, 2009, 11 minutes (Director: Iris Olsson)—A hundred souls lost in dreams in the dead of night cross a Siberian moonscape aboard a battered Russian train. A fortunate few dream happily and carefree, but most toss uneasily, gripped by fears for the future or guilt about the past.

BIG BIRDING DAY / USA, 2010, 13 minutes (Director: David Wilson)—Competitive bird watching comes alive in this delightful short. As three friends attempt to catch a glimpse of as many species as possible within the course of 24 hours, the special camaraderie that emerges between friends who enjoy the rituals of a unique hobby together is highlighted.

BORN SWEET / USA/Cambodia, 2010, 28 minutes (Director: Cynthia Wade)—Vinh, a rural Cambodian teen, dreams of falling in love, moving to the city and becoming a karaoke star. Alas, for Vinh and the millions of other children worldwide suffering from chronic arsenic poisoning, even reaching adulthood is a dream in doubt.

BYE BYE NOW / Ireland, 2009, 15 minutes (Director: Aideen O’Sullivan)—The film offers a charming look at the gradual disappearance of phone booths in Ireland. With the advent of modern technology, the phone booth has all but vanished all over the world. In a loving tribute to this soon-to-be relic of the past, the film is a nostalgic reminder of yesteryear.

CORNER PLOT / USA, 2010, 11 minutes (Director: Ian Cook)—In this heart-warming short, 89-year-old Charlie Koiner cares for a one-acre piece of farmland that rests just outside urban Washington, D.C. With help from his daughter, Charlie works the land and shares his crops at the local farmer’s market. In a rapidly changing modern world, this unique farmer remains dedicated to the life he has always known.

THE DARKNESS OF DAY / USA, 2009, 25 minutes (Director: Jay Rosenblatt)—This moving and thought-provoking meditation on depression and suicide stretches the boundaries of “documentary.” Built from found footage, and using both biographical details from Rosenblatt’s life and readings from a journal of someone who committed suicide, the film gently spurs you to ask exactly what it aims to document.

THE FAUX REAL / USA, 2010, 21 minutes (Director: Suzanne Hillinger)—This engaging short documentary introduces three biologically born females who identify as drag queens. Challenging traditional ideas of gender and drag, these unconventional women don wigs, false eyelashes, heavy makeup and chokers to perform burlesque as hyper-real representations of femme.

FLAWED / Canada, 2010, 12 minutes Director: (Andrea Dorfman)—Unfolding like a graphic novel, director and artist Andrea Dorfman illustrates her way through her unlikely pairing with a cosmetic surgeon. This animated short is a lovely meditation on falling in love, when the most trying battle is the one fought between the heart’s desires and the mind’s insecurities.

FOUND / Canada, 2009, 6 minutes (Director: Paramita Nath)—For Laotian-Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa, a discarded scrapbook sheds light on a harsh infancy in Southeast Asia emphasizing how family memory is often an aggregation of disparate pieces.

THE HERD / Ireland, 2008, 4 minutes (Director: Ken Wardrop)—One of these things is not like the other. But don’t tell that to the newest addition to the cow herd on the filmmaker’s family farm. When a little fawn finds herself out of place amid the sole company of cows, she attempts to fit in unnoticed. Can she succeed?

HOLDING STILL / Germany/USA, 2010, 26 minutes (Director: Florian Riegel)—Imagine if the last 20 years of your life were lived entirely in one room, yet you have the ability to see and photograph the world outside. This is the story of Janis, a woman whose artistic voice is remarkably unconstrained by physical obstacles or tragedies in her past.

THE HOUSEKEEPER / Scotland, 2009, 13 minutes (Director: Tali Yankelevich)—The care bestowed on a venerable priest by his elderly Greek housekeeper may at first blush appear to be all in a day’s work, but beneath the surface flow strong currents of platonic love and mutual need.

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK / Ireland, 2009, 12 minutes (Director: Anna Rodgers)— This haunting and visually stunning short film explores several desolate and abandoned psychiatric hospitals throughout Ireland. The voices of former long-term patients permeate the corridors, still struggling to understand the circumstances that brought them there.

I’M JUST ANNEKE / USA, 2010, 11 minutes (Director: Jonathan Skurnik)—Anneke is a 12-year-old girl who has begun taking a hormone blocker so that she can delay puberty to ultimately decide for herself whether or not she wants to grow up as a woman or a man. This thought-provoking film brings to light the choices of a new generation facing gender identity issues with remarkable sensitivity and respect.

KEEP DANCING / USA, 2010, 21 minutes (Director: Greg Vander Veer)—Well into their ninth decade of life, dance icon Marge Champion and Tony-winning choreographer Donald Saddler became fast friends while performing in the 2001 Broadway revival of Follies.  Now 90, the two continue to rehearse and choreograph original work, revealing a passion for dance undimmed by the passage of time.

LAST ADDRESS / USA, 2009, 9 minutes (Director: Ira Sachs)—A series of exterior shots of buildings all have one thing in common: they were the last residential addresses of some of New York’s most prominent artists who lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses. This simple yet poignant short film is an elegant tribute to those remarkable people whose voices were silenced much too soon.

LIES / Sweden, 2009, 13 minutes (Director: Jonas Odell)—With playful animation and lively narration, three people share their individual stories of lying, and the surprising consequences of their deception.

LISTENING TO THE SILENCES / UK, 2009, 11 minutes (Director: Pedro Flores)—What does it feel like to hear voices inside your head? Roy Vincent attempts to explain. Living alone on the isolated countryside, Vincent’s battle with mental illness is a daily struggle. This quiet, penetrating film presents a sympathetic portrait of a man accepting his inner demons.

MARIA’S WAY / Scotland/Spain, 2009, 15 minutes (Director: Anne Milne)—A feisty elderly woman’s sole purpose in life appears to be setting up an isolated roadside stand along the historic Camino de Santiago pilgrim route. A seemingly mundane daily task soon evolves into a humorous and charming observation on the importance of purpose, commitment and tradition.

MISSED CONNECTIONS / USA, 2010, 9 minutes (Director: Mary Robertson)—This delightful film is an amuse-bouche for anyone who has ever perused the “Missed Connections” section of the classifieds in the hope they will recognize themselves as the “missed connection” in question.

A MOTH IN SPRING / USA/Canada, 2010, 26 minutes (Director: Yu Gu)—While attempting to produce a film in China inspired by her parents’ involvement with the Student Democracy Movement of the 1980s, a young filmmaker’s life and work quickly begin to parallel her parents’ trials and alienation when the film is shut down and she is ordered to leave the country.

MRS. BIRKS’ SUNDAY ROAST / UK, 2009, 6 minutes (Director: Kyoko Miyake)—This beautifully shot slice-of-life short introduces Mrs. Fukio Birks, a Japanese woman living in England with her British husband. Embracing the new life she has created, Mrs. Birks dedicates herself to embracing English culture—beginning with its cuisine. As she prepares a delectable English Sunday dinner, Mrs. Birks shares her thoughts on cooking, home, culture and family.

NOTES ON THE OTHER / Spain, 2009, 13 minutes (Director: Sergio Oksman)—Ostensibly about Ernest Hemingway, this intriguing short is more a meditation on reality and simulation—like a Baudrillard lecture, except more fun. Contrasting Hemingway with his impersonators in Key West, the film questions the writer’s account of the running of the bulls, moving quickly to challenging the concept of the Real.

ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL / UK/France, 2009, 24 Minutes (Directors: James Newton, Kristian Hove Sorensen and David Lalé)—When sixteen year old Abdul’s life is suddenly in jeopardy because of his involvement with a film on refugees, the filmmakers take it upon themselves to protect the boy. Exploring the delicate balance of how involved documentarians should become with their subjects, the film is a remarkable reassessment on the craft of non-fiction filmmaking.

OVERNIGHT STAY / USA, 2009, 9 minutes (Director: Daniela Sherer)—Using hand-drawn animation, the film illustrates an 83-year-old woman’s vivid memory of an event during World War II that likely saved her life when she was a young girl. On a cold night in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1941, she was taken in by strangers and given a place to sleep.

PARA FUERA: PORTRAIT OF DR. RICHARD J. BING / USA, 2010, 9 minutes (Director: Nicholas Jasenovec)—How could a centenarian who is an accomplished doctor and musician sum up the totality of experiences in his life in one word? Dr. Richard Bing is able to do so—and along the way you will learn what motivated and assisted him in living his challenging yet charmed life.

PLASTIC AND GLASS / France, 2009, 9 minutes (Director: Tessa Joosse)—In a recycling factory in the north of France, workers settle into the daily grind of reprocessing plastic and glass. In an effort to transcend the routine, the workers playfully adapt the steady rhythm of the machines into a melody for a song and dance.

THE POODLE TRAINER / USA/Russia, 2009, 8 minutes (Director: Vance Malone)—Irina Markova is a Russian poodle trainer who has dedicated her life to training her 20 colorfully costumed poodles to perform clever acrobatic tricks. Fueled by a childhood tragedy that sparked a fierce desire to avoid people, Markova welcomes the solace of her animals and the isolation she finds behind the red velvet curtain of the circus.

PRAYERS FOR PEACE / USA, 2009, 8 minutes (Director: Dustin Grella)—Through the use of stop-motion animation, a man reflects on the memory of his younger brother, recently killed in Iraq. This deeply personal film offers an elegant introspection about a brother and soldier whose loss is deeply felt by those who loved him.

QUADRANGLE / USA, 2010, 20 minutes (Director: Amy Grappell)—In the ’70s, two “conventional” couples embark on a most unconventional arrangement when they attempt to ward off marital ennui by swapping partners. Moving into the same home, merging families, sharing in a group marriage, can this four-way affair ever work?

SELTZER WORKS / USA, 2010, 7 minutes (Director: Jessica Edwards)—New York’s last seltzer bottler makes for a refreshing subject in this effervescent look at a tradesman who refuses to compromise on taste while facing the inevitable decline of a dying commercial tradition.

THE SPACE YOU LEAVE / UK, 2009, 10 minutes (Director: James Newton)—Thoughts of their long-vanished children are never far off for several British parents whose lives seem all but consumed by overarching loss. The daunting impact of an estimated 200,000 annual disappearances in the UK is brought to scale in three gripping portraits of lives now defined by the presence of absence.

THEY ARE GIANTS / Netherlands, 2009, 13 minutes (Director: Koert Davidse)—The Bibliotheca Thurkowiana Minor is a breathtakingly beautiful old world library filled with hand-crafted leather tomes nestled in exquisite mahogany bookcases.  No human has ever walked its halls, climbed its stairs, or sat at its tables because this library is no more than eight feet long and four feet high; its books no taller than your little finger.

THIS CHAIR IS NOT ME /UK, 2010, 10 minutes (Director: Andy Taylor Smith)—While cerebral palsy confines Alan Martin to a wheelchair and inhibits his speech, he refuses to limit himself.  When he gains access to technology that enables him to find a voice, his life is transformed.  Utilizing stunning visual vocabulary and subtle re-enactment, the film presents a cinematic experience as unique as the subject himself.

TRASH-OUT / USA, 6 minutes (Director: Maria Fortiz-Morse)—This deeply affecting and simple short shows workers cleaning out a house that has been foreclosed upon. What do the things left behind say about a family? What does an empty house that was once a home say? In a mere six minutes, TRASH-OUT makes a poignant statement on a timely subject.

UNEARTHING THE PEN / UK/Uganda, 2009, 12 minutes (Director: Carol Salter)— Beautifully photographed, this film poignantly tells the story of a young Ugandan boy’s desperate desire for an education in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds: most daunting is the possibility that the symbolic burying of a pen decades earlier by tribal elders has resulted in a curse on formal education.

THE VEIL / Italy, 2009, 18 minutes (Director: Mattia Colombo)—A young postulant prepares to enter the convent. Older nuns go about their quotidian routines. This intimate portrait of Franciscan sisters in a small Venetian convent reveals the vibrant lives played out beneath the subdued cloth of their vocation.

WORLD CHAMPION / Estonia, 2009, 35 minutes (Director: Moonika Siimets)—Eighty-two-year-old Herbert Sepp is a man’s man. He works out, he speaks his mind, and he knows what he wants in life: a world masters title in pole vaulting. For him, it’s all about the run, the plant… and the very, very short amount of time in the air.

Considering Self-Distribution?

Self-distribution. It’s getting some attention in the documentary world. Wondering why? May I recommend a SilverDocs conference session? It may have the answer you’re looking for.

THE WAY WE GET BY, about a group of senior citizens who visit the airport daily to greet and thank departing and returning soldiers, aired on PBS, was screened at numerous film festivals, and had a theatrical release. It is one of the top 300 all time grossing documentaries. All through self-distribution.

I had an opportunity to speak with producer Gita Pullapilly who, along with director Aron Gaudet, will be presenting their Funding/Self-Distribution Case Study. Along with getting a better sense of what to expect from her session, I also took the opportunity to speak with her about market for documentary films.

On what the session will cover:
“What we did isn’t going to work for every filmmaker. What we’re doing is showcasing an example of what we did. We want to provide ways to think outside of the box, so people can get their films out there. The session is going to be interactive. We want it to be an open forum for filmmakers to freely discuss their challenges and for us to provide our input. It has been really interesting since we’ve been inundated with phone calls. And they’re struggling to get their films out there. What Aaron and I can offer is the most therapeutic session, remind filmmakers there is hope. There are creative opportunities to make sure your film gets made/gets seen.”

Some preview tips:
– Start thinking about distribution early
– Figure out your target audience
– Don’t be afraid to mix it up. Do some self-distribution and get some help from an outside source. Just think about what each method has to offer.

On whether or not the success of self-distribution may make distributors rethink their strategy:
“It’s hard to predict what [distributors] want to spend money on. We thought that our film was that film [that had general appeal]. It comes down to personal taste and what they can sell. I’m not sure [if the success of our film] will make distributors any more eager. The point is, it’s okay if a distributor says no. There is still hope for filmmakers.”

Any one who has seen THE WAY WE GET BY knows how special the film is. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do. Watch the trailer.

And if you haven’t purchased your SilverDocs passes yet, you still have time!

— Preeti Balakrishnan

The Ultimate Insider Session

Have you always wanted to know how to take your great idea for a documentary and actually get it on television?

UNDERSTAND THE AUDIENCE! THEN DEVELOP THE PROGRAMS: An “Insider’s Guide” to How Factual Television Channels Develop and Commission Programs will teach you what you need to know.

This year’s Silverdocs Conference will offer a number of sessions dealing with distribution and this one focuses on the programming practices of the A&E network. Peter Hamilton, who will be presenting alongside Stephen Harris (A&E Television’s Director of Non-Fiction and Alternative programming), says the session will be a great “How to” session, but he also emphasized the Q & A part, which he is really looking forward to (he emphasized this twice, so bring your questions!).  Hamilton promises techniques that will help you “get your foot in the door.”

The agenda includes:

– A&E’s development and commissioning process
– A&E’s assessment criteria
– Practical presentation techniques (including examples of effective sizzle reels)
– Covering case studies so audience members can follow the whole process

Really, it’s never to early to think about distribution, when it comes to the filmmaking process. So I think this session will be great for people with projects in development, for people who have ideas for documentaries, AND for people who think they may  have ideas for docs in the future. And Hamilton and Harris are experts who have looked at thousands of proposals; so they will be able offer great insight about how to position yourself and your project when approaching A&E (and anyone else).  Attend this session to answer the age-old question: “What do I need to do to get my film distributed?”

Understand the Audience will take place at 10 AM on Wednesday June 23rd. Visit SilverDocs to purchase tickets for the conference.

100,000 Years Out

As a member of the Screening Committee for SilverDocs 2010, I watched a lot of documentaries on DVD.  Now that the festival is almost here, I am excited to get to see them on the big screen and INTO ETERNITY is at the top of my list.  Watching it I thought of how the theater experience would really enhance the visuals and build upon the mood that director Michael Madsen has created.

Ostensibly a film about storing nuclear waste, the main subject is really time and human curiosity.  Because the waste repository in Finland is designed to last 100,000 years, it raises questions about our ability to comprehend such an incredibly long time.  For comparison, the pyramids, a project of comparable size, are only 4,500 years old.  How can we keep out potential “grave robbers” or even archaeologists?  What warning should be on the signs?  What language will humans speak in 100,000 years?

The architects and designers of the facility struggle to explain all of the safeguards that are being planned for the future.  Before too long, we start to see all of the assumptions and unknowns that weaken their plans.  Throughout the film, the visuals are stunning and create a spooky and entrancing mood.  Shots of the above-ground wildlife, and shots of the miners working to build the tunnel, along with footage of the current, temporary storage solution, all give an uneasy sense to this whole plan.  For curiosity is perhaps the strongest human trait, followed closely by the belief that we know what we are doing….

And yet, what else can we do?  This is the conundrum that the film explores.  We must find a safe place to put this, for our sakes, and we must find a way to keep it isolated from our descendents — generations so far removed that we cannot even imagine what they will be like.  Nor can we imagine how to keep them from looking when we know darn well a human will want to explore.   The director described his initial reaction this way:

“When, on my first research trip, I learned that this project’s preferred Long Term Safety strategy is to let the nuclear waste facility be forgotten by mankind, I got a first glimpse of the considerations, impossible hopes, cynicism and selective(!) predictions of the future that I had never encountered before.”

INTO ETERNITY (trailer) is screening on Wed., June 23, at 5:00pm and on Sat., June 26, at 5:30pm.  Buy your tickets now.

— Matthew Radcliff  is a documentary editor/producer and the organizer of the WIFV Documentary Roundtable.

A Yearning for School

UNEARTHING THE PEN tells the poignant story of Locheng, a young Ugandan shepherd.  Locheng is descended from a tribe who years ago forbade reading and writing in an attempt to protect their children and burying an actual pen in the ground to ritualize the prohibition – never guessing the consequences for future generations.
Locheng knows how to care for animals, but he hungers for more academic knowledge.  While other children his age are in class, he stands outside the school windows.  Even though the classes are taught in English, a language he does not understand, he longingly watches teachers explaining math and geography.  But besides the cultural taboos against literacy, Locheng has little money.
Undeterred, Locheng meets a man who tells him what he will need to buy in order to enroll in school.  What starts out as a simple-sounding list, a book and a pen, turns into an overwhelming array of registration fees, examination fees, a cup, a plate, and new clothes.  Locheng does not give up on his dream of going to school although this dream becomes harder and harder to achieve.
The film’s director, Carol Salter, traveled to Uganda as a one-woman crew to shoot the film and got very close to her subject.  Her close-up shots artfully show the admiration and longing flitting across Locheng’s face as he dreams of getting an education.
Anyone who donates to charities to send kids to school should see this film to further understand the need and desire for education, and anyone who does not yet donate to such charities will want to after seeing the way Locheng puts a complex but lovable face on the problem of education for impoverished children.
You can read an interview with Salter and purchase tickets to see UNEARTHING THE PEN (trailer), along with short films about children in Cambodia and France, in SHORTS PROGRAM 1: A KID’S LIFE.

• ALBERT’S WINTER | Andreas Koefoed 2009
• BORN SWEET | Cynthia Wade 2010
• ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL | James Newton 2009

— Meredith Metcalf