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Talk Back #14: Parting the Waters

What an amazing DocuClub we had last night! It was our first screening at the new 92YTribeca’s wonderful theater facilities, and we filled every one of its 72 seats. Of course, it helped matters to feature such a great project as Parting the Waters by Jenny Levison and Josh Waletsky. The film—documenting African-American and Latino Olympic-swimming hopefuls, including Gold medalist Cullen Jones and Maritza Correia—garnered much commentary during the post-screening feedback, expertly guided by Yance Ford.

The filmmakers had several questions for the audience: Where in the story do you lose interest? Where are you enthralled? Interestingly, there was much audience debate as to whether there were too many storylines/characters (i.e., pool segregation/integration, Cullen and Maritza, teenage swimmers Elgin and Davidson, mother whose son’s drowning spurs her toward learning to swim as an adult and to foster swimming in communities of color) and a thread still too loose for they all to converge cohesively.

Another question was that of context. How much historical background and exposition should the film contain for the contemporary stories to have resonance?

And last, how did audience members feel about certain filmmaking devices, specifically, the use of narration and/or title cards, to aid in the flow and clarity of the narratives?

Please add your comments below.

No Comments | | Posted on May 28, 2009

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