talk back
Talk Back # 8: Off and Running
Moderator Fernanda Rossi and production team for Off and Running.
Much like the title of our film last night, the November edition of DocuClub was Off and Running from the beginning of the evening. We partnered with Tribeca All Access to showcase the work of one of its participants, Nicole Opper. Opper, along with producer Sharese Bullock and cinematographer Jakob Akira Okada, took to the stage post screening. Facilitating the audience feedback was international speaker and author Fernanda Rossi, the “Docu Doctor.” The audience response was uniformly enthusiastic. Most of the commentary had to do with clarity. Since the film approaches the story using a cinema verite style, certain events were suggested rather than explicitly stated. Attendees differed on whether “less was more,” in particular regarding main character Avery’s disengagement with her adopted parents and family. A show of hands confirmed that the room was evenly split on most questions of clarity/lack thereof.
It would be great to hear more of your comments.
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Posted on November 26, 2008
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Comments
I thought Nicole’s film captured brilliantly the complex emotions with all involved in an adoptive family. I saw it less as a story about this one girl and her identity crisis and more about how both families - the adoptive family and the birth family, are affected when an adopted child “pulls out” so to speak and demands to be recognized as the birth daughter of “somebody.” The film deals with issues that are almost never acknowledged in adoption or in mainstream media - namely - what does it mean to be part of a family that is not your biological family and how does that affect everyone in the adopted and birth families? What I liked so much about the film is that I saw each character trying to do the right thing for themselves in a painful situation. Like all families, I felt the love for this family not just because of their virtues, but despite their faults. I wouldn’t change a thing. Except maybe a follow-up title sequence at the end because we all want to know what happened to them. It’s a great film and a timely issue.
—Natalie
Posted on November 26, 2008 by dcanonymous
Congratulations on your film, I really think you’ve done a great job since the last screening I saw. The family pictures really helped contextualize the family story a lot more.
For the most part, all you need is polishing, and a couple of minor things
- Making Avery’s moving out decision more dramatic. Did she internalize the part about moving out? If so, I missed it, maybe just adding a line or two along the lines of her parents do not support her enough with finding her birth mom and it’s taking a toll on their relationship and she needs to discover her blackness more.
- A little more weight on the abortion part about giving up a child, ie, just like her mom did, etc.
- On her way to planned parenthood, we hear Avery talk to her insurance company but maybe we need to see her face talking and hear the part about “abortion” is covered on the plan and maybe some internalization about the experience of giving up a fetus post-partum stuff?
—Larilyn
Posted on December 3, 2008 by dcanonymous