The March March parade up Broadway makes everyone smile. I was talking to someone about it afterwards and she said how nice it was to see grown-ups jumping up and down and grinning inanely and what an incredible sense of community an anarchic parade like this creates. Amen! Here’s the evidence.

This fine lady was giving out buttons that said I AM LOVED in lots of different languages

Esther Robinson (a Swami here this year), with Sky Sitney (Silverdocs)

Stephanie Skaff, AJ Schnack, Mark Rosenberg (Rooftop Films) and David Wilson (True/False – whoo hoo!!!) – apologies to all for my over-enthusiastic flash

Natalie Difford (Chicken & Egg), Brent Hoff (Wholphin), and me

The legendary Exene Cervenka busks before Sounds Like Teen Spirit (I was too awestruck to get close enough to take a proper picture)

Me, Jess Search (BRITDOC) and Jamie Jay Johnson after Jamie’s packed screening of Sounds Like Teen Spirit. I’m utterly biased but I enjoyed the screening immensely and I think everyone else did too. Hooray!

I arrived in Columbia, Missouri yesterday and was immediately swallowed up into the documentary joys of True/False (not to mention the excellent cheeseburgers at Booches). I’m about to join the March March parade up Broadway and then see Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public followed by Jamie Jay Johnson’s Sounds Like Teen Spirit. My kind of Friday night! Here are some photos from the last 24 hours.

True/False cupcakes in the Ragtag

Me in a Jamie Jay Johnson (Director of Sounds Like Teen Spirit) and Nicholas Abrahams (Co-Director of The Posters Came From The Walls) sandwich

Brian Brooks (indieWIRE), AJ Schnack (All These Wonderful Things blog), Rachel Rosen (LA Film Festival) and Karina Longworth (Spout blog)

Jamie Jay Johnson, Jess Search (BRITDOC) and Heather Croall (Sheffield Doc/Fest) – so great to see these lovely people here in the middle of America.

Havana Marking (Director of Afghan Star) and Pamela Cohn (Still in Motion blog)

Todd Griffin (composer, musician, member of The Quavers) and Matt Dentler (Cinetic)

This video by Jonathan Jarvis does a great job of explaining the current credit crisis in clear, visual terms.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Hat Tip: PSFK

Man on Wire is way ahead in the Shooting People Oscar Poll. If you’re a member get voting now. There’s money in it for the lucky winner!

I’m currently in the process of writing an article about remix culture and the notion of the Commons. It is taking me in all sorts of fascinating directions, from Girl Talk to Brett Gaylor’s open source film about the musician, RIP: A Remix Manifesto. From Creative Commons to Brad Lichtenstein’s work in progress What We Got: DJ Spooky’s Quest for the Commons. I like this animated video by Laura Hanna and Gavin Browning that examines the notion of the Commons and specifically addresses the question of who owns water.

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about storytelling and about how narrative shapes our lives. I’m really interested in learning more about digital storytelling – which seems to me to have very different goals than traditional documentary in that it is all about “ordinary” people telling their own stories, and hopefully empowering themselves in the process. The Center for Digital Storytelling are doing some interesting work in this area, training people to use “the tools of digital media to craft, record, share, and value the stories of individuals and communities, in ways that improve all our lives.” Have a look at the project they did with Men As Partners (MAP) in South Africa, dealing with the twin problems of HIV/AIDS and violence against women.

I’ve always loved the way children tell stories, in that rambling, boundary-less fashion, so I was rather bowled over by Capucha’s stories, even though she’s so cute it’s almost too much. Imagine the story below as a film. Exhausting!

Once upon a time… from Capucha on Vimeo.

This week we were thrilled to announce the launch of Film of the Month on Shooting People, which recognizes the best films made and uploaded to Shooting People by our members on both sides of the Atlantic.

Shooting People Patron director Mike Figgis selected the animated short Zoo by 24 year old Robin Bushell as January’s Film of the Month. The other shortlisted films for January were the documentary Hanging With Frank by David Graham Scott, and the performance piece Jump by Lab Ky Mo. Upload your films now to be considered for the February competition – which will be judged by the most excellent Morgan Spurlock, another of our lovely patrons.

Here’s Zoo for your viewing pleasure.

I’m getting perilously close to the sell-by date on this meme, so having been tagged by both Danielle DiGiacomo and Yance Ford I am finally getting my meme on.

Here goes:

1. Favorite feature: Burma VJ by Anders Ostergaard (incredibly powerful, like being punched in the stomach – this shows what documentaries can do that the news simply can’t, it’s not just about footage but about story and characters and context)

2. Most problematic/interesting/thought-provoking feature: Boy Interupted by Dana Perry (I found the portrayal of childhood mental illness fascinating and very disturbing and was floored by the ability of his parents to make a film about their son’s suicide at age 15 with such unflinching courage and honesty)

3. Favorite short film: So The Wind Won’t Blow It All Away by Annie P. Waldman, Utopia Part 3: The World’s Largest Shopping Mall by Sam Greene and Carrie Lozano, I Live in the Woods by Max Winston (made me laugh)

4. Film most regrettably missed: Sergio, Push, We Live in Public, Humpday and The Cove (I missed a lot of films unfortunately)

5. Most fun party: The British/Afghan party – epic!

6. Best post-screening Q & A: Um, does The Panic Button panel count?

7. Favorite nonfiction character(s): The Rough Aunties in Kim Longinotto’s Rough Aunties

8. Most memorable moment: Inauguration Day in the Filmmakers Lodge – such a lovely, warm, happy, optimistic morning

I think everyone I know has already been tagged so I’m not tagging anyone. Does that mean I killed a meme? Oh dear.