DOCS ON THE EDGE
Last Friday May 9th I
attended the student documentary showcase from the 2013-2014 Video Production
Seminar presented by the Department of Anthropology, the Department of Cinema
Studies, and the Program in Culture and Media at New York University.
The documentary showcase consisted
of nine short films running from 10-20 minutes long, and produced, edited,
directed and written by each student in the program. As a candidate in the
Culture and Media program, I was interested in seeing what I should prepare for
next year as I embark on the documentary production part of the course. At the
end of the event I was excited, and very impressed by the works of all the
students, as well as began to feel the pressure of having to meet the high
standards set by this talented group of documentary makers.
The event, probably due to
logistical issues, was long and with a short intermission after the screening
of five short documentaries, which was unfortunate because there was not much
time left for the Q&As that were conducted after every screening. It also
made it hard for everyone in the audience to be able to stay until the end.
However, for the group of us that stayed, it was worth the while, especially
because the environment was very welcoming, and friendly and the students, and
professors were open to engage in conversation after the show.
The Culture and Media program is a
two-year program that is part dedicated to the theory and study of media and
ethnographic film, and the second part consists of the production of a
documentary from an anthropological perspective. The series opened with a short
documentary by Anna Green (Cinema Studies), which was a lovely portrait of a
pizza place in Green Point, Brooklyn that has survived as a local home, and
restaurant in for the community, and is still surviving in this gentrifying
area. The documentaries varied from cinema-vérité style portraits, such as Zoe
Graham’s The Regulars, which is about
a waitress at a local diner who is a peculiar and entertaining character, and
provides a home outside of home for the people in the area. To a beautifully
shot, sensory experience in the style of Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab about
the hazardous, and intricate production process of the street manhole covers in
NYC made by hardworking, and unfairly paid Indian men (Natasha Suresh Raheja, Cast in India).
The style and subject of these
documentaries varied in form, structure, aesthetic, and subject, this is mainly
due to the flexibility of the professors who run the program, and their
emphasis in allowing the student filmmakers to create their own style by
finding their own voice. This made for a diverse, engaging, and rich watching
experience, and the works stand as prove of how there is no one right recipe in
art or in this case in particular documentary practice. These works show us or
remind us of the variety of ways that documentary can speak to a wide range of
issues, and concerns through different perspectives and angles without
compromising the quality, and value of their subject(s).
The curatorial aspect of the event was
well done besides the unfortunate issue of having to showcase all of these
works on the same night, or without having much time for discussion after every
screening. However, being able to see the works in consecutive order was
important to the mission and goal of the program in showing the diversity, and
range of subjects that the students are allowed, and encouraged to explore. Perhaps
a longer day for the event with some more room for discussion with the
filmmakers about their work, or including a panel discussion moderated by a
professor making the showcase closer to the style of a symposium than just the
screening of the documentaries might be more enriching? Either way, this was a
worthwhile, and inspiring experience, and I look forward to begin the adventure
of making my own documentary!
by Ximena Amescua
Docs on the Edge website and program:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.