Rx
May 08, 2013

The documentary community came out to support Jon Alpert & Keiko Tsuno yesterday at their groundbreaking ceremony for an all-documentary cinema at DCTV.   Michael Moore came from Michigan to praise the intrepid Alpert who inspired him.  

Some there remembered the earlier TV LAB phase of Alpert and Tsuno’s documentary career, when she held the camera for CUBA THE PEOPLE and VIETNAM: PICKING UP THE PIECES!    In recent years HBO has been Alpert’s primary outlet and a contingent of HBO execs were on hand for the event.   

Rx
March 05, 2013

Now it’s up to you to end Hunger in America. A PLACE AT THE TABLE tells us that 50 million Americans are going hungry and that numerous organizations are working to lobby Congress, but they haven’t overcome the power of the agribusiness lobby.  We learn that in 1968 CBS Reports correspondent Charles Kuralt’s documentary “Hunger in America” resulted in substantial federal food assistance that “nearly ended hunger in America” but that all changed in 1980 with the election of President Ronald Reagan.  

The superb animation in this new documentary carries a message that deserves to be heard by all, but it’s not being shown on television where most viewers don’t only have a choice of three or four channels as they did in 1968. So how do we take collective action when we’ve reduced the impact of our most powerful mechanism for galvanizing the nation?  In “democratizing” television we’ve undermined the effectiveness of social action in our democracy.   

 

Rx
February 19, 2013
1 note
Hubris

Vital info; but commercials undercut context, time to think, to feel, and experience #Rachel Maddow  

Tags: Iraq War Rachel Maddow 9/11 Hubris

Rx
February 08, 2013

Rafea: Solar Mama, the new title since this trailer was cut, is a significant documentary by Arabic speaking directors Mona Eldaief and Jehane Noujaim who follow Rafea, a Bedouin woman from Jordan, to Barefoot College in India where she learns to be a solar engineer.  Beautifully edited by Jean Tsien, the film immerses us in characters whose concern for education, women’s rights, and the environment confront obstacles of patriarchy and local politics.  This is social action by example.  An inspiration!  

Tags: Jordan India women's education solar energy patriarchy social action documentary

Rx
January 17, 2013

FRONTLINE’S superb reporting in a stunning visual and aural package by editor Steve Audette exposes the audacity of Republican intransigence.    

Rx
January 09, 2013
Frontline documentary on "The Education of Michelle Rhee"

Not as compelling or as fresh as Frontline’s DROPOUT NATION last fall, THE EDUCATION OF MICHELLE RHEE raises more questions than it answers.  Once again, it proves how hard it is to join the issues in reporting on education when the answers have more to do with the general health of the children being educated and the management of a bureaucracy than with teaching.  Alexander Russo’s comments on the PR “coincidences” surrounding the Frontline documentary are intriguing and worth pursuing.  Knowing that this is a compilation of PBS NewsHour reports somewhat explains its limitations.   Had I known that and hadn’t seen the press on Rhee’s new venture I might not have watched.  I got the attitude, the personality, the controversy, but overall I wanted to learn more.   

Tags: teachers Education Documentaries Frontline

Rx
January 04, 2013
1 note
Obsession and money -- what it takes to be a documentary filmmaker

Getting attention, finding money and finding your audience is a challenge for today’s documentary filmmaker.  I didn’t see “Until They Are Home”, but I know how important reviews and awards are and have to admire Barber’s strategies.  This year-end story from the NYT has stayed with me:

A Documentary Maker Puts Money on an Oscar Ad

By MICHAEL CIEPLY

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Steven C. Barber, a filmmaker, was looking at a used Lexus to replace his 2001 Chevy when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its lists of Oscar-eligible scores and songs this month. The music from his documentary, “Until They Are Home,” made both.

So who needs a Lexus? Mr. Barber, who operates from a rent-controlled apartment here, bought a full-page “for your consideration” ad in Variety instead.

The ad, said Mr. Barber, who spoke by telephone last week, cost him a little less than its standard price of $13,500. As with almost everything related to his movies, he haggled — but at least he didn’t ask Variety for a contribution.

“I ask everyone for money,” said Mr. Barber, who describes himself as a salesman by nature. In fact, he makes a living by selling advertising when he isn’t pursuing his passion for documentary films, and especially those about repatriating the remains of American military personnel who died abroad.

Rx
October 25, 2012

No right to vote in the U. S. Constitution

Watching ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION stirred me to ask why isn’t there a public discussion to limit the time spent on political campaigns, why isn’t everyone automatically registered, why don’t we have a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday voting holiday period, why don’t we have an independent commission to administer the elections, and why do we waste millions on negative advertising instead of requiring television stations to present positive policy positions of the candidates and parties?  

Maybe if teachers show this documentary in grade school and high school social studies classes, a new generation will take up these issues.   

As one child says when confronted with a demonstration of how the Electoral College works, “It’s not fair!” 

Tags: ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTING RIGHTS FAIRNESS VOTER REGISTRATION

Rx
October 25, 2012

ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION TRAILER

Rx
October 25, 2012
1 note
Electoral Dysfunction -- Mo Rocca documentary

Producer/director Bennett Singer showed his documentary at Columbia Journalism School last night and I asked him afterward if PBS was showing it — about 70% of stations, he said.   See it in New York at 9 p.m. on WLIW Channel 21 on October 28th. and in Chicago at 9:30 p.m. on WTTW October 30th.  More local listings at http://electoraldysfunction.org. 
This is exactly the kind of program that PBS should broadcast nationally and be seen by 67 million voters.  Mo Rocca’s humor and even-handed reporting raise vital questions about our electoral process that neither President Obama or Governor Romney talked about in their 3 debates. 

Tags: Electoral Dysfunction Bennett Singer Mo Rocca Columbia Journalism School PBS