Report from Sundance 2005: Documentaries in Action
February 15, 2005
Strong Storytelling Takes the Lead
Documentaries have experienced a shift into the limelight in recent years at the Sundance Film Festival, and this year the trend continued. The festival, which ran January 20-30 in Park City, Utah, screened thirty-six feature documentaries. But unlike last year, when numerous docs addressed post-9/11 realities, this year it would be hard to cull out a theme, at least in terms of content. What ties together this year’s films, instead, is a focus on form, storytelling, and original vision. Its not that documentaries this year were any less politically relevant or emotionally compelling, it’s that the art of filmmaking played a leading role in their advocacy.
Mark Becker’s Romántico addresses issues of immigration and Mexican/US economics through the story of migrating mariachi singers.
Romántico by Mark Becker, The Joy of Life by Jenni Olson, and Shakespeare Behind Bars by Hank Rogerson, are examples of films that invite viewers into their stories through a focus on aesthetics and storytelling rather than through overt didacticism.
Still, activism was the highlight of several Sundance docs. In Mardi Gras: Made in China, director David Redmon follows the “bead trail” from Chinese factories to Bourbon Street, New Orleans, to reveal the inequities of globalization. In Trudell, director Heather Rae weaves a powerful story of Native American activist and musician John Trudell, and The Education of Shelby Knox, directed by Rose Rosenblatt and Marion Lipschutz, chronicles the life of teen sex-ed activist Shelby Knox.
Workshops and Panels Address Distribution Outlets for Docs
In addition to the slate of social-issue docs, Sundance offered numerous workshops and panel discussions of interest to documentary filmmakers. The House of Docs, located in the Filmmaker Lodge, held several events including “Meet and Greet the Commissioning Editors” where broadcasters and commissioners from outlets such as PBS, the BBC, Sundance Channel and TV-2 Denmark met in small groups with filmmakers to discuss the types of films their companies acquire, commission, and produce.
Up the hill at the Sundance Digital Center it was hands-on with emerging film and video technologies. The new HVR-Z1, Sony’s HDV Professional Camcorder, captured plenty of buzz. Several Digital Forums took place at the center including “Docs, Blogs, and the Changing Face of Politics of America” where panelists including Laura Dawn of MoveOn.org and filmmaker Robert Greenwald discussed changes in digital technology that have enabled the growth of independent political discourse.
Overall, the hot panel topic at Sundance this year was distribution. Old school rubbed up against new school, often in heated ways. Several panels addressed the evolving world of how to get your work out there: “The New Digital Market,” “The Big Business of Small Films: Alternative Distribution 101,” and “The New Doc Market.”
Other Documentary Gems, from the Mouths of Masters
New this year was Film Church: “nondenominational lessons in indie cinema from people [Sundance thinks] have something important to say.” Elvis Mitchell and John Pierson had their time at the pulpit. Critic Rebecca Solnit was also on hand at the fest. She gave a Sundance Lecture —yet another educational opportunity (yes it was nearly impossible to catch all of them) — called “Outside the Frame and Against the Odds.” Solnit raised a provocative question: Do artists contribute to social transformation in a significant way?
Director Heather Rae weaves a powerful story of Native American activist and musician John Trudell in Trudell.
Documentary luminaries Werner Herzog, Frederick Wiseman and Barbara Kopple showed up to the festival this year. Herzog brought Grizzly Man, a classic Herzogian account of the sensational life and death of grizzly bear advocate Timothy Treadwell. Herzog joined Frederick Wiseman on a panel entitled “Visions of Reality” to talk about strands of contemporary documentary, from hybrids to docudramas, and the frontiers on the horizon in non-fiction storytelling. Of note was that Wiseman pulled his new documentary, The Garden, from the Sundance lineup because of unresolved issues between him and Madison Square Garden.
Barbara Kopple premiered a newly restored and sound-remastered 35mm print of her 1976 Academy award-winning Harlan County, U.S.A. and participated in a Conversation at the Filmmaker Lodge. One of the after hours highlights of the fest was the low-key (and thus welcomed) party where the legendary Hazel Dickens, who wrote the original music for Harlan County, U.S.A., performed.
Documentary Honorees
More docs than ever screened in competition this year due to the addition of the World Documentary Competition. The Shape of the Moon by Leonard Retel Helmrich took home the Documentary Grand Jury Prize in this new awards section. Other festival winners included Murderball, about paraplegic rugby players, which won the American Documentary Audience Award. The documentary cinematography award went to Gary Griffin for The Education of Shelby Knox. The American Documentary Grand Jury Prize was given to Why We Fight, a sobering lesson about the military by Eugene Jarecki. Jessica Sander’s After Innocence took home a Special Jury Prize, and the Shorts Jury awarded special recognition to Bullets in the Hood: a Bed-Stuy Story, directed by teens Terrence Fisher and Daniel Howard, about gun violence in the Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood. Bullets in the Hood was produced through Downtown Community Television Center’s (DCTV’s) underserved youth’s Pro-TV program.
Visions of Outreach
Social-issue docmakers came to Sundance with a wide-range of outreach plans in mind. Jessica Sanders premiered After Innocence, about the uphill battles exonerated men face once freed from prison. Her outreach plan includes a Showtime broadcast and screenings at universities, law schools, district attorneys’ offices and at police academies. She will also partner with The Innocence Project and the Life After Exoneration Program to raise awareness about the fact that exonerated individuals are provided with less government support than prisoners out on parole. Sanders also plans to screen her film for state legislatures. Presently, only 18 states have compensation legislation in place for time spent unjustly behind bars.
Read Harriette Yahr’s interviews on outreach with other key Sundance docmakers:
Shakespeare Behind Bars
The Joy of Life
The Education of Shelby Knox
Romántico
