Shooting People: Shooting From The Hip » Outreach

Brooklyn Film Community Helps Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti

Ingrid — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:11:20 +0000

I think it’s pretty amazing how so many people have rallied to help Haiti’s only film school continue to tell important stories in the wake of the earthquake. On January 22nd a crew of film peeps got together at Eastern Effects in Brooklyn to load a shipping container with film equipment and humanitarian supplies to send to Jacmel.

This makes me smile.

Keep up to date with the school’s news and videos: www.cineinstitute.com/news/

You can become a fan of the Institute on Facebook too.

Here’s a message from filmmaker Michelange Quay (Eat, For This Is My Body):

While the catastrophe in Haiti deepens in range and scope each day and relief help inches its way to the struggling survivors, my own students at Haiti’s only film school, CINE INSTITUTE have been filming since Day 0 – showing Haitian people organizing to survive, in the way they always have in face of extreme poverty and neglect, with dignity, patience, teamwork and intelligence.

They’ve lost EVERYTHING – families, homes, their school, their dreams, their future, but their first instinct was to grab the one or two cameras still functioning and get out into the barely recognizable streets, looking for stories – human stories. It’s a stark contrast to the “mad famished negroes running amuck” story that the mainstream media seems to cut-and-paste, and their dedication to bearing witness with their cameras, proves that we filmmakers have a different function than that of the doctors, engineers, etc., in such a crucial moment.

Our work as filmmakers serves a basic, vital, human need, a tangibly spiritual need – to really be seen, to be heard. Please spread the word in our profession about the work of these students at the dawn of carreers that seem dim, but that burn bright right now in an hour of colossal need. Watch their stories.

http://www.cineinstitute.com/news/

peace, solidarity

michelange

Transmedia Storytelling

Ingrid — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:46:37 +0000

Lina Srivastava, a consultant who works with nonprofits, activists and other change agents, has written an interesting blog piece on the possibilities of transmedia storytelling for nonprofits. The phrase comes from the brilliant mind of Henry Jenkins and essentially describes a multiplatform approach. Jenkins talks mainly about fictional worlds but it can be applied to documentary work too, although of course the process and experience might differ somewhat. Jenkins describes transmedia storytelling as follows:

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.

Strivastava discusses Brad Lichtenstein’s experiences making his latest film What We Got: DJ Spooky’s Quest for the Commons. Lichtenstein found his approach radically changed after attending a BAVC Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies:

Since the institute, we no longer think of ourselves primarily as filmmakers. We think of ourselves as content producers. This is a term that Jim Sommers of the Independent Television Service emphasized at one of the BAVC institute’s seminars. And we embrace the notion that we are one set among many storytellers telling the story of the commons. We will enable and embolden others to share that mission through our transmedia strategy to transform viewers into doers who shape the story and join a community working online and offline to name, claim and protect commons.

I am thinking a lot about different ways of telling stories at the moment and I think what is really interesting about transmedia storytelling is that, in addition to being of creative interest to filmmakers and artists who would like to explore new technologies and techniques, it also opens up very interesting spaces for proactive participation from the audience because there are so many different entry points.

And there are so many benefits to be reaped from telling stories in this way – in terms of engaging people, encouraging them to have a voice and making sure that the conversation isn’t always one-way. Srivastava points out that from a social change point of view this is building on the participatory ideas explored by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (who was greatly influenced by Paulo Freire’s pedagogic work). The difference is that now we have a lot more technology at our fingertips as we explore the possibilities of telling stories back and forth!

Does it matter who funds films?

Ingrid — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:49:50 +0000

Well, yes of course it does. But this is a sticky, tricky issue that the independent film community is going to have to grapple with as new sources of funding become available and new partnerships are sought. I just finished writing an article for MovieScope Magazine in the UK about the possibilities for outreach around documentaries, focusing on the productive partnerships that Third Sector funding (NGOs, charities, social enterprises, voluntary organizations etc.) can help foster. However a couple of recent Guardian articles (click here and here) have highlighted the ethical issues involved when financial support is given by organizations with a particular agenda. Who has editorial control if a film is funded by Amnesty or Oxfam? The Guardian quotes Chloe Baird-Murray, Amnesty’s director of creative relationships: “If the film-maker wants to tell both sides of the story, they can do that. We support … freedom of expression. Any storytelling is positive for us if it shines a light on what is happening in the world. We get involved to tell our side of the story correctly. Documentaries can be overwhelming if they do not contain a solution to the problems they highlight. NGOs can give that. Al Gore’s film ended with an example of what people can do. People are ripe for that kind of activism.”

The Good Pitch at BRITDOC opened many people’s eyes to the possibilities of Third Sector and commercial funding (see also the work that the Channel 4 Documentary Film Foundation did in bringing the non-profit world together with filmmakers last year at The Media Conference). Just take a look at the list of observers – many will not be folk you would consider “the usual suspects” when it comes to documentary funding:

Fledgling Fund
IMPACT PARTNERS
ITVS
C4BDFF
Sundance Institute
AOL True Stories
Participant
CBA-Dfid
Christian Aid
Oxfam
Avaaz
Amnesty
NCVO
RED
Gucci Fund
The Sunday Telegraph
Hartley Film Foundation
One World Broadcasting Trust
Vice Magazine
JRRT
Gulbenkian Foundation
Channel 4 (Corporate Affairs)
No2ID
Oak Foundation
Ecostorm
Greenpeace UK
British Beekeepers Association
Camfed
MySpace
World Development Movement

There is definitely a need for funding outside of television/government in the UK but filmmakers will have to be alert as they navigate this new landscape. There is a longer tradition of this kind of funding in the US (much of it necessitated by the profound lack of government/public service funding here) but the recent Nike/Beautiful Losers deal on this side of the pond has led to much debate about the ethics and politics of big corporations giving support to independent films. As Spout’s Karina Longworth put it: “Beyond the knee-jerk “corporate=bad” response, what should we think about indie documentaries looking to multinational giants for the kind of support that studios are no longer willing to give?”

Transparency is clearly key in all these instances. I’m inclined to agree with the Frontline Club’s Vaughan Smith who says: “I can’t think of subjective journalism that I have a problem with, if it is marked as subjective and clear. Most journalism is already subjective, even if it is labelled as objective. I am suspicious of all organisations, including news organisations. There always needs to be proper controls to protect editorial integrity.”

Thank you to Mark Rabinowitz/Docsider for the heads up about the Guardian articles.

The team behind Black Gold at The Media Conference in 2007

Green Screen

Ingrid — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:37:23 +0000

Al Gore’s recent Nobel Peace Prize has lots of people focusing on the role that An Inconvenient Truth played in the decision to award him the prize. If films really can change the world, what about filmmakers? Paul Harrill has a list of resources to keep filmmakers on their environmental toes on his Self-Reliant Filmmaking blog.

You Are What You Eat

Ingrid — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:45:48 +0000

King Corn opens today at Cinema Village in NYC. This is a really important documentary about the American food system, raising provocative questions about the way our food is produced, from the subsidized genetically-modified corn that plays such a large, and unhealthy role, in the American diet, to the cows that are fattened up on corn, a food they do not normally eat, in vast feed lots. This film made me really start thinking about what I put into my mouth, ahem, and also about the fact that food in this country may be too cheap, not reflecting the financial realities of food production. But if this all sounds too dry, it’s not. The story is told through college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis attempting to grow an acre of corn in Iowa and then follow it through the food system – it’s an entertaining journey that will also put you off drinking soda (high-fructose corn syrup is NEVER a good idea) for life!

Check out the website for more information about where you can see the film and how you can get involved:
www.kingcorn.net