The Script Doctor

The documentary community came out to support Jon Alpert &...

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:33:03 -0400

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.

Now it’s up to you to end Hunger in America. A PLACE AT...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:35:39 -0500

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.

Hubris

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:49:43 -0500

Hubris :

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

Rafea: Solar Mama, the new title since this trailer was cut, is...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:57:59 -0500

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!

FRONTLINE’S superb reporting in a stunning visual and...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:35:51 -0500

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

Frontline documentary on "The Education of Michelle Rhee"

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:11:16 -0500

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.

Obsession and money -- what it takes to be a documentary filmmaker

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:57:09 -0500

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.

No right to vote in the U. S. Constitution

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:48:27 -0400

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!”

ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION TRAILER

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:43:41 -0400

ELECTORAL DYSFUNCTION TRAILER

Electoral Dysfunction -- Mo Rocca documentary

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:24:56 -0400

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.

Documentary Theatre at DCTV

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:53:14 -0400

Documentary Theatre at DCTV:

Jon Alpert and Keiko Tsuno celebrate their 40 years at Downtown Community Television by announcing a plan to build a theatre for documentaries. A great, timely idea.

CNN starts a Documentary Unit

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:56:31 -0400

Documentaries, like anything on television, have to be programmed regularly and have to be of consistent quality. POV and FRONTLINE on Mondays, HBO on Tuesdays — there’s room for more; but CNN’s proposed documentary premiere every three months must be combined with documentary acquisitions for a weekly series if CNN is to gain traction.

No doubt that independent documentaries serve democracy’s need to come to grips with the stories and issues of our time since most of television have abandoned long form non-fiction storytelling.

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s new film is DETROPIA...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:07:56 -0400

Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s new film is DETROPIA — but (gasp) I haven’t seen it yet. (They are quoted in today’s NY Times story on the Academy Awards for documentaries. —see link below.) Documentaries are finally too popular for anyone to have seen all that are produced in a year. But if a wide number of Oscar nominators chose, lets say, the top 25, and then at least three documentary members viewed a selection of five to seven and voted to advance them to a final selection of 15, that list could be narrowed by all voting members or by a select jury. To be more concerned whether a film is in theatres or on television, when most makers want both audiences, ought to be beside the point in this modern era.

Flaws Seen in New Rules for Oscars

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:44:00 -0400

Flaws Seen in New Rules for Oscars:

Some documentary directors are wondering if a new set of rules to select an Oscar shortlist, meant to be more inclusive, is as flawed as the one it replaced.

Chris Matthews followed at 10 p.m. with an MSNBC documentary essay Barack Obama – Making...

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:53:24 -0400

Chris Matthews followed at 10 p.m. with an MSNBC documentary essay Barack Obama – Making History. Taking an historic view of the election of the nation’s first black President, Matthews reminded us of Obama’s international appeal by noting that he visited 20 or more countries, more than any other president in his first term. Matthews made explicit the character and meaning of this Presidency for our nation. Where CNN’s program was too tight, MSNBC’s was too loose in construction. Its commercial blocks were shorter, but notably one ad from Chevron defended fracking. The viewer was reminded where real power resides. To combine the strengths of both programs would result in a real documentary that if presented without commercials would contribute to voters understanding and education. Oh, that’s FRONTLINE’S “THE CHOICE” on PBS. Or at least it has been, in past election years, the best documentary consideration of the presidential candidates before the electorate.

Obama documentaries

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:36:07 -0400

James Carville, invited to opine last night on CNN after it showed Obama Revealed: The Man, The President, began by saying, “the piece, ‘documentary’, I guess you’d call it.” Anderson Cooper had to reassure him it was a documentary, but I kept thinking if CNN believed more strongly in long form reporting Cooper would have introduced it and introduced the cable network’s reporter, chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin. She did a credible job of interviewing, especially when she spoke with the President, but not once did I see or hear her name during 90 minutes of the “documentary” in which commercials seemed more dominant than reporting.

CNN seemed tone deaf in that the first commercial was for “Clean Coal” – but there were eight commercials, usually, in four-minute blocks for about every six minutes of program material. Then, each program segment began by repeating something we had just heard and seen. Ultimately we did “learn something”, as Carville said, about the president’s accomplishments, but at a breathtaking speed because of how the ‘documentary’ was packaged.

After it was “over”, segments were repeated and “analyzed” by Cooper, Candy Crowley, Wolf Blitzer, Gloria Borger, Alex Castellanos, Carville – and Yellin, the only one I hadn’t seen before. Admittedly, I haven’t watched CNN for long time, not since Time Warner moved it higher up on its list of channels. I found it in HD on Channel 778. What a shame to see such good work, more an extended news analysis than a documentary, interrupted and so poorly presented.

A Well-Deserved Honor for a Documentary Filmmaker

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:35:34 -0400

A Well-Deserved Honor for a Documentary Filmmaker:

What wonderful news to hear that Ricki Stern, Dartmouth ‘87, will be delivering this Fall’s convocation address at Dartmouth. It’s especially heartening to see a documentary filmmaker — and one with such a diverse portfolio of remarkable films made with her documentary partner Annie Sundberg, Dartmouth ‘90 — receive this recognition.

FREEDOM & DOCUMENTARY

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:51:54 -0400

Freedom is the theme of many excellent documentaries – freedom that expresses concern for others, freedom that entails compassion, respect and justice.

LOVE FREE OR DIE

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:51:50 -0400

LOVE FREE OR DIE is the title of Macky Alston’s new documentary on Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church. Nowhere, in the film, do you see the ever-present state slogan “Live Free or Die” but having lived through many New Hampshire presidential primaries we are expected to appreciate the play on words.

Video

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:51:44 -0400