Documentary Studies Graduate Certificate – The New School Doc Studies

February 3, 2022September 14, 2022 Doc Studies Uncategorized

DOC TALK (ONLINE) – MINDING THE GAP – Q&A with BING LIU

Welcome to Rockford, Illinois, in the heart of Rust-Belt America, home to filmmaker Bing Liu. With over 12 years of footage, Liu discovers connections between two of his skateboarder friends’ volatile upbringings and the complexities of modern-day masculinity. As the film unfolds, Liu captures 23-year-old Zack’s tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend as it deteriorates after the birth of their son, and 17-year-old Keire struggling with his racial identity as he faces new responsibilities following the death of his father. While navigating a difficult relationship between his camera and his friends, Liu weaves a story of generational forgiveness while exploring the precarious gap between childhood and adulthood.

Bing Liu is a Chicago-based director and cinematographer who Variety Magazine listed as one of 10 documentary filmmakers to watch. His 2018 critically acclaimed documentary Minding the Gap has earned a total of 28 award recognitions since its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it took home the Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking. He is also a segment director on America To Me, a 10-hour documentary series examining racial inequities in America’s education system, set to premiere on Starz. His most recent film, All These Sons, has screened at IDFA, Doc10 and the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies

@tnsdocstudies

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School of Media Studies
The New School

https://newschooldocstudies.wordpress.com/

http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/documentary-media-graduate-certificate/

http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/media-studies/

http://www.truthbetoldfilmfestival.com

January 28, 2022September 14, 2022 Doc Studies Uncategorized

DOC TALK (ONLINE) – YEH FREEDOM LIFE – Q&A with PRIYA SEN

Filmed in the dense streets and neighborhoods of Ambedkar Nagar in New Delhi, Yeh Freedom Life (This Freedom Life) (2019, 70 min) tries to keep up with its protagonists, as they maneuver erratic and unpredictable love. One of them works at a local beauty parlour, the other runs the family kiosk at a crowded intersection. They are surrounded by a cacophonous city; they are both in love with other women. The film stays with them and their desire for ‘freedom lives’, outside society and family’s constant scrutiny and sanction. But this ‘freedom life’ also leaves them vulnerable to the precariousness of love, when it refuses such constraints.

Priya Sen & Nicolás Grandi‘s Faasla (2020, 50 min) is a conversation in epistolary form using video, an exchange over a distance of countries and time zones, and at the time of a global pandemic which has meant a sudden re-ordering of our lives as we knew it. “We speak of distances, of intimacies we can no longer access, of the state of suspended freedoms, of memory, images and sensations. Our bodies themselves have become receptacles of these uncertainties, the archives we have haphazardly been building over the years, are having to speak for us. Maybe this dialogue is between the archives themselves, what we have seen, what we see now.”

Priya Sen is a New Delhi based filmmaker and artist who works with nonfiction forms across film /video, sound and installation. Her films explore forms for tenuousness, ambiguity and un-settling, as modes of navigating urban lives and experience. Sen’s work has been presented at the Flaherty Seminar 2019, among other festivals and venues that include the BFI London Film Festival, Forum Expanded Berlinale, Bangalore Queer Fest, Experimenta, Images Festival Toronto and the Dharamshala International Film Festival.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies

@tnsdocstudies

Doc Studies @ Instagram

School of Media Studies
The New School

https://newschooldocstudies.wordpress.com/

http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/documentary-media-graduate-certificate/

http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/media-studies/

http://www.truthbetoldfilmfestival.com

April 23, 2021September 9, 2022 Doc Studies Events

Truth Be Told 2021

The Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies is proud to present its fourteenth annual festival of original short films made by students in the classes of 2020 and 2021. Over a period of four days, we will screen original documentary shorts and engage in conversations with our wonderful graduates, whose films tackle our present realities with a keen sense of urgency and care.

Register here for the festival Q&As with student filmmakers.

March 24, 2021April 25, 2021 Doc Studies DOC TALKS, Events

DOC TALK (ONLINE): What Farocki Taught / On the Domestication of Sheep – Screening and Q&A with Jill Godmilow (filmmaker and author)

“Godmilow’s film re-makes Farocki’s film… in order to study it, to take apart its various phases, to understand it, to think about it…. It is an act of remembering…. Film which can break reality into pieces… can also demonstrate for us the processes of memory, of re-thinking the past and turning it—not into nostalgia—but into a lesson for the future.“
—Tom Gunning

“A bracing exercise in political filmmaking and pedagogy… resurrecting the Brechtian frontal attack, both on an economic system intent on the manufacture of death and on the complacency of documentary realism.”
—Michael Renov

Ever since Jill Godmilow began making documentaries in 1966, her work has broken barriers. Her early feminist films helped pave the way for more films made by, for, and about women. In her groundbreaking Far From Poland she explored the rise of the Solidarity movement at a distance, incorporating an unprecedented array of experimental approaches—staging, reenactment, interviewing, archival films—and thereby fostering a post-realist movement within documentary filmmaking. Her criticism of documentary’s “pornography of the real” has won her friends and enemies, challenging left liberal documentary to re-think its strategies. What Farocki Taught (1998) is one of her most controversial films, a re-make and interrogation of Harun Farocki’s Inextinguishable Fire about Dow Chemical’s creation of napalm B during the Vietnam War. Since her retirement from teaching at Notre Dame University, she has been busier than ever, producing and directing new films and writing a book for students about the documentary. Her recent short film, On the Domestication of Sheep (2019), is a quirky surprise—an animated film that delivers a blow to gendered capitalism with ironic wit and powerful punch. Godmilow remains tireless in her efforts to keep the debate over documentary ethics as stimulating as ever. She will discuss these two short films, radically different in style and tone from each other, and then speak about her new book and film-in-progress.

Jill Godmilow is an internationally known, award-winning independent filmmaker who has been producing and directing nonfiction and narrative work on feminist, gay, labor, and art issues for decades. In 2003, her Academy Award-nominated feature Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman was added to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. She is Emerita Professor at the University of Notre Dame where she taught film production and critical studies courses in the Department of Film, Television & Theatre for twenty years. She is probably best known for her radically deconstructive approach to the documentary and juxtaposition of fact and fiction. In 2020 she began work on a new film, For High School Students—Notes from the Vietnam War. She has just finished writing Kill the Documentary—A Letter to Filmmakers, Students and Scholars, forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

Please join us for this online screening and Q&A, hosted and moderated by Deirdre Boyle, Associate Professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies
@tnsdocstudies
Doc Studies @ Instagram

School of Media Studies
The New School
https://newschooldocstudies.wordpress.com/
http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/documentary-media-graduate-certificate/
http://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/media-studies/
http://www.truthbetoldfilmfestival.com

March 10, 2021April 23, 2021 Doc Studies DOC TALKS, Events

DOC TALK (ONLINE): The Missing Picture – Screening and Q&A with Deirdre Boyle (Author of the book, Ferryman of Memories: The Films of Rithy Panh)

“Documentary, personal essay, historical reconstruction, film poem, therapeutic exercise—”The Missing Picture” is something of all of these.“
–Jonathan Romney, Film Comment

“The audacity of “The Missing Picture” … is equaled only by its soulfulness.”
–Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Rithy Panh is Cambodia’s leading filmmaker and foremost chronicler of the genocide that decimated his nation when Pol Pot tried to create an agrarian utopia through terror. Acclaimed for his groundbreaking documentaries about perpetrator guilt, Panh’s best known film is a very personal one, his Academy Award-nominated memoir, The Missing Picture. His quest to find a missing picture is, on a literal level, a search for footage shot by a Khmer Rouge cameraman, but the “missing picture” is a conceit that evokes all that is absent and inaccessible for him. It took years for him to assemble an archive of propaganda films that expose Khmer Rouge ideology and to envision clay figurines and dioramas that depict horror without turning viewers into voyeurs and his film into what Jill Godmilow has called “the pornography of the real.” History, memory, and art all come together in a film that demonstrates the power of art to respond to genocide with beauty and wisdom.

Panh was 13 when his family was evacuated to rural Cambodian where all but one of them died of starvation, over-work, disease, and despair. Rithy survived and escaped to a refugee camp and then exile in France. Educated at l’IDHEC, the prestigious national film school in Paris, he returned to Indochina where he has made more than 20 award-winning feature films over the past 30 years. Although he has collaborated with cinema luminaries like Angelina Jolie and Isabelle Huppert, Panh considers himself essentially a documentary filmmaker. He is enigmatic, unpredictable, and indefatigable in his quest to heal his nation and make new films.

Associate Professor of Media Studies Deirdre Boyle has taught at the New School for over 40 years. She is the author of the forthcoming Ferryman of Memories: The Films of Rithy Panh (Rutgers University Press). Her essays on Panh’s groundbreaking films led her to step back to examine his entire oeuvre, which took her to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Geneva, and Toronto and immerse herself in the cinema of a brilliant but haunted artist. Victor Torres Rodriguez is Deirdre’s research assistant and an invaluable editor and first reader uniquely qualified to interview her about Panh’s work. He joins a terrific group of graduate assistants, colleagues, and friends who have contributed their support and knowledge about colonialism, genocide, and trauma to Ferryman of Memories.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies
@tnsdocstudies
Doc Studies @ Instagram

March 10, 2021April 15, 2021 Doc Studies DOC TALKS, Events

DOC TALK (ONLINE): The Cats of Mirikitani – Screening and Q&A with Linda Hattendorf (Director/Editor)

“A fascinating, absorbing and instructive tale, full of delayed revelations and subtle pleasures.“
–Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader

“A profoundly gripping film with a cumulative impact that may well wipe you out.”
–Bilge Ebri, New York Magazine

The Cats of Mirikitani began as a portrait of Jimmy Mirikitani, a homeless Japanese-American street artist living in New York City, but then it morphed into a stunning personal story of an unlikely relationship that confronted one of America’s long-standing prejudices and initiated a healing process catalyzed by the events of 9/11. This film was Linda Hattendorf’s directorial debut, and she worked closely with editor Keiko Deguchi to structure a film in which she reluctantly became a character. Cats premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 where it won the Audience Award. The film was later broadcast on the PBS series “Independent Lens,” toured theatrically around the globe, and was invited to over 100 film festivals.

AWARDS: Best Picture Japanese Eyes, Tokyo International Film Festival; Best Documentary, Durban International Film Festival; Norwegian Peace Film Award, Tromso International Film Festival, among over 30 others.

Linda Hattendorf is much in demand as an editor today, and her work has been broadcast on PBS, A&E, TCM, and The Sundance Channel, and screened in various theatrical venues and film festivals. She has collaborated with direct cinema master Barbara Kopple and did research for PBS’s house documentarian Ken Burns. She served as cameraperson on William Greaves’ celebrated Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take 2 ½ and editor for his PBS special Ralph J. Bunche: An American Odyssey. She is currently editing Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story about the legendary photojournalist of Asian American issues who died recently of covid-19. She has an MA in Media Studies from the New School and briefly taught editing for the DocStudies Certificate.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies
@tnsdocstudies
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February 12, 2021March 11, 2021 Doc Studies DOC TALKS, Events

DOC TALK (ONLINE): The Big Scary “S” Word – Screening and Q&A with Yael Bridge (Director/Producer)

“Examines the history of socialism and why so many Americans have been conditioned to reject a philosophy that’s in their best interests”

– Cassie Da Costa, Daily Beast

THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD delves into the rich history of the American socialist movement and journeys with the people striving to build a socialist future today. With inequality growing, a climate catastrophe looming, and right-wing extremism ascending around the world, many Americans are wondering whether capitalism is to blame. But what is the alternative? Socialism is plagued by conflicting definitions. Is it dictatorship or democracy? Norway or Venezuela? Reform or revolution? This film explores where American socialism has been, why it was suppressed, and imagines what a renewed American socialism might look like.

AWARDS: Official Selection: AFI Fest 2020, Official Selection: Mill Valley Film Festival 2020, Official Selection: DOC NYC 2020, Official Selection: HotDocs 2020, Official Selection: DocLands 2020.

Yael Bridge is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker based in Oakland. Her films have shown at major film festivals nationally and internationally. She produced Left on Purpose, winner of the Audience Award at DOC NYC, and most recently produced Saving Capitalism with Robert Reich, nominated for an Emmy Award in Business and Economics. As Director of Productions at Inequality Media, Yael has made numerous viral videos tackling complex political issues that have garnered over 200 million views on social media. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, a Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies and an MA in Media Studies from the New School.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies
@tnsdocstudies
Doc Studies @ Instagram

January 31, 2021February 12, 2021 Doc Studies DOC TALKS

DOC TALK (ONLINE): Honeyland – Screening and Q&A with Samir Ljuma (Cinematographer)

Nothing less than a found epic, a real-life environmental allegory.
(A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis, NYTimes)

A miraculous feat, shot over three years as if by invisible camera.
(Cath Clarke, The Guardian)

Its narrative construction depicts extraordinary tensions and conflicts with a clarity and coherence that a screenwriter might dream of.
(Richard Brody, The New Yorker)

Nestled in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, Hatidze Muratova lives with her ailing mother in a village without roads, electricity or running water. She’s the last in a long line of wild beekeepers, eking out a living farming honey in small batches to be sold in the closest city – a mere four hours’ walk away. Hatidze’s peaceful existence is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an itinerant family, with their roaring engines, seven rambunctious children and a herd of cattle. Hatidze optimistically meets the promise of change with an open heart, it doesn’t take long however, before a conflict evolves that exposes the fundamental tension between nature and humanity, harmony and discord, exploitation and sustainability.

The debut feature from documentarians Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska, HONEYLAND is made with the widescreen sweep of an epic, yet clearly built from an intimate collaboration between filmmakers and subject. With a surprising sense of humor, it’s a tough and tender portrait of the delicate balance between humankind and nature, a glimpse at a fast disappearing way of life, and an unforgettable testament to one extraordinary woman’s resilience.

AWARDS: Sundance, Critic’s Choice Documentary Award, Cinema Eye Honors, European Film Awards, International Documentary Association + 30 other awards and over 40 nominations including two Oscar nominations for Best Documentary and Best Foreign Film.

Samir Ljuma is an award-winning cinematographer and producer from Macedonia. He worked as Director of Photography on several documentary features and collaborated with a host of international film directors, including AVEC L’AMOUR by Ilija Cvetkovski and HONEYLAND by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov. He is the winner of the American Society Of Cinematographers Award for Best Documentary Cinematography as well as IMAGO Award, IDA Award, Cinema Eye Honors Award, and Sundance Film Festival award.

Presented by the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies
@tnsdocstudies
Doc Studies @ Instagram