“In a seemingly paradoxical way, the monks of Shaolin, the birthplace of Chinese Zen and Kung Fu, pursue Buddhist peace and enlightenment. The film examines the life of the young boys, monks, and others at the monastery through the year’s seasons.” Written and Directed by Hongyun Sun, Ph.D., Beijing Film Academy.” –
“Director Sun’s film showcases life in the Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of Chinese Chan and Kung Fu. She follows several monks and a Ph.D. candidate conducting fieldwork to explore the philosophy of peace and enlightenment through martial arts. It depicts their daily meditation, martial arts practice routines, and challenges outside the temple. The film portrays the realities of their lives and unwavering commitment to their chosen path, featuring ordinary mortals instead of Kung Fu heroes or Saint Monks.”
Into the Shaolin, a feature-length documentary has finished production at the Shaolin Temple in China. Shaolin is the birthplace of Kung Fu and Ch’an Buddhism, a cultural mecca for many followers in China and worldwide. The documentary is directed by Hongyun Sun of Beijing Film Academy in China. The documentary is being screened in film festivals worldwide.
The Into the Shaolin Story
Within the ancient monastery and daily rituals, Into the Shaolin documentary delves into the unknown personal experiences of modern monks and others at the Shaolin Temple. In today’s world, where the Internet plays a prominent role, the connection between the monks of Shaolin and the outside world has changed. There are new conflicts and resolutions concerning traditional customs, Chinese Ch’an (Zen is a branch of Ch’an outside China), love, fame, fortune, and Kung Fu practice.
Xiao Shami
Heng Kun’s father died at a young age. His mother remarried, keeping his younger brother and sending young Heng Kun to Shaolin Temple to study. He became Xiao Shami, excellent at Kung Fu with the Shaolin Temple Wushu Group. The Internet brought him Into contact with his mother, who he misses. He loves his life at Shaolin but wants to explore the outside world and possibly reconnect with his mother and brother.
Shi Yanzi and Marta Neskovic
Shi Yanzi, a Shaolin Temple farmer, was born in 1978. He has been the head of the Shaolin Temple Wushu Regiment. Master Yanzi actively practices a style of farming meditation at Shaolin Temple. He organically combined farming and Ch’an culture. Four brothers and sisters in Yanzi’s family followed him to Shaolin. Shi Yanzi, Ch’an cultivates the 800 acres at Shaolin Temple year-round. He has strong notions about Ch’an Buddhism and farming.
Marta Neskovic, a 26-year-old doctoral student from the University of Belgrade in Serbia, studies at Shaolin Temple. She dresses in gray garments like the monks and students. She practices Kung Fu and learns Ch’an Buddhism and the Chinese language. At the same time, she is working on her thesis. Marta’s story is about adjusting to life at Shaolin and keeping in tune with her family and friends.
Shi Yanzhuang
Shi Yanzhuang is the general coach of the Washu group at Shaolin. His martial arts, Wei Zhen Shaolin, and performances have been praised globally. His philosophy brings Ch’an practice to the external performance of Kung Fu.
Some monks at Shaolin are orphans who find their way to the temple.
Shi Yanyong
“Who am I?” Shi Yanyong does not know his birthday, has no parents, and does not know his exact age. At ten, he followed a Taoist priest from Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to Shaolin Temple, where the priest abandoned him. He grew up at Shaolin. Encouraged by the Abbot, he accomplished many things, from Kung Fu and meditation to poetry and living in the mountains. His life and search for identity are part of the story of Into the Shaolin.
These Shaolin residents and others have unique stories about their lives at Shaolin. They relate what it means to them, the conflicts, struggles, and who they are now. These compelling, interweaving stories reveal much about contemporary life today at Shaolin Temple. Set against the pallet of culture and history of Shaolin Temple, they paint a vivid picture few have seen.
Watching the documentary film, “ruth weiss: the beat goddess” you can’t help but fall in love with “ruth.” She is a contemporary of Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and others. Why is her name not familiar? You start to wonder why she has been a stranger all these years. The obvious answer is quite simple as “ruth” and the documentary will inform us. In the 1950’s women poets did not get published or given any attention. The film documents “ruth’s” life and work at the same time as it explores significant moments in social and literary movements beginning with the “beat generation.”
“ruth” in San Francisco 1950’s
“ruth weiss: the beat goddess,“ is a well-made contemporary documentary, directed by Melody C. Miller introducing “ruth weiss,” her life’s work and sojourn. It is a biography and an exploration of the world “ruth” lived in from her birth in Germany, in the year 1928 to her death in California in 2020. The narrator of the film is “ruth weiss.” Her story. It appears that she was interviewed and also filmed reading and/or performing her work with a trio of musicians when she was in her late 80’s. She is seen in the film reading her poetry at a Women’s March in 2019 at the age of 91. ”ruth” is articulate and a great storyteller. People who know about her life add commentary and insight. “Herb Caen dubbed “ruth weiss” as ‘The Goddess of the Beat Generation.”
Watch the trailer:
“ruth” read her poetry with jazz musicians early on. “In the 1950’s, she organized the first poetry readings in North Beach cafes and bars providing a platform to many poets.” The documentary reveals that she was among the very first “beat poets” reading her work to Jazz. Casual friends, she and Jack Kerouac exchanged writing Haiku poems before he became famous with “On the Road.”
The documentary uses creative imagery to accompany some of her poetry visualizing historic moments in “ruth’s” life. It has animated recreations of past events done in an artistic style by Ketai Rivera an Bijiao Liu. Certain poems read by “ruth” are heard as a modern dancer performs interpretive, moving visual imagery. Music also brings to life the poetry, while “ruth” performs with a trio of jazz musicians in many scenes or reads voice over to music. In addition to the live video the film makes extensive use of archival photographs of “ruth” and events during her life. This story is entertaining and greatly informative. Anyone interested in poetry and the social impact of the “beat generation,” must watch this film.
Melody C. Miller directed, shot, and edited this documentary which has won numerous awards. Recently it received the 2020 Maverick Spirit Award from the Cinequest Film Festival given to influential individuals who embody the independent and innovative mindset. Previously awarded to Werner Herzog, Harrison Ford, Jackie Chan and many others.
“A beautiful and atmospheric celebration of a creative soul, ruth weiss: the beat goddess will be streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Tubi, Xumo, Plex, Google TV, Hulu, Kinema, Kanopy, and more from ruth weiss’ birthday on June 24, 2022, and available on PBS channels on August 28th, 2022. “
Happy Birthday “ruth weiss!”
Review by James R Martin, writer, documentary filmmaker.
Have you ever wondered why certain successful, wealthy, celebrities get to a point in their lives where they choose to take their own lives? Road Runner – A Film About Anthony Bourdain, directed by Morgan Neville might shed some light on how someone gets to this point in their life.
One Controversial issue regarding the film.
While this film uses a documentary format it has a one distracting difference. In several places it uses voice over created to sound like Bourdain created by an artificial intelligence program that learns to mimic human voices. Nowhere in the film does it mention that Bourdain’s voice is synthetic in places. A modest subtitle when this occurs could have solved any problem in this regard. It is presented in such a way that the audience might think that Bourdain said these things. Apparently, he never said these words aloud, he wrote them down, at least in one instance.
There is a false notion that real documentaries are somehow objective. Documentaries are not objective; they are subjective by default because they are made by humans. All documentaries have a point-of-view. Having an actor read voice over to narrate a film does not make it fiction because narrators are identified, and the audience knows what is being said is narration. But once a documentary filmmaker begins to “re-create” scenes, or use actors to play characters in the film, it becomes fiction. Is voice over created by AI software to imitate a character in the film using an actor? It makes one wonder what else in the film might be manipulated beyond actuality.
The Story
The documentary Road Runner begins with the fact that Bourdain took his own life on June 8, 2018, a few weeks before his 62nd birthday on June 25th. He hung himself in France while working on a new television series. Since this fact is known by all, it seems like a good idea to get it out of the way and go back into Bourdain’s past to learn who he was and how he got to this point in his life. Bourdain’s journey as a chef, television food show host, and celebrity is traced through interviews with family, friends, colleagues, and through the use of archival footage. During the one hour-fifty-eight-minute story we first meet young Anthony Bourdain who essentially begins to narrate his own life story. As time progresses the viewer gets to know Bourdain through his actions, words, family and good friends. By the end of the story perhaps there is some insight into Bourdain’s melancholy, the reason and method of ending his life.
Trailer
Road Runner, A Film about Anthony Bourdain is a strong documentary that lets the viewer get to know Bourdain in many ways. Bourdain was a talented, intelligent person who evolved over the years in different ways. We follow him through two marriages and the joy of being a parent. Later in life an affair that caused him to take a strong advocacy position publicly.
Throughout his life Bourdain seemed somewhat overwhelmed by his success even though he stepped up and learned quickly to deal with each new phase. The personality seen on the television series was the real Bourdain, but he had another private side to that personality that he shared with his close friends and family. It is clear from the beginning of the documentary that there is a romantic side to Bourdain that comes out in his writing and personal relationships. He enjoyed celebrity but in some ways like an observer of his own fame.
A Documentary Worth Seeing
Road Runner, A Film About Anthony Bourdain, directed by Morgan Neville is worth seeing. It is a well edited story that keeps pace with Bourdain’s constantly moving style of life. Over many decades Bourdain spent most of his time traveling 250 or so days per year. The film shows behind the scenes views of those days of “gathering frequent flyer miles,” as Bourdain alludes to on one occasion. For anyone who watched Bourdain on television, read his books or followed his career it offers a deeper understanding of the man and his travels. The film brings insight into celebrity, success and its impact on one person’s life.
Review by James R Martin, documentary writer/director, author.
Who is Jennifer Aniston? Is she “More Than Friends?” According to a new hybrid-style biographical documentary titled Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends, she is quite a bit more than Rachel Green, the character she played in the long-running, ten-season TV series “Friends.” Her crucial role in Friends won her 16 Golden Globe awards, SAG, and Emmy nominations with three wins. She has had a spectacular career that includes Friends and a long series of popular, successful films. Aniston has accomplished much, but not many people and fans realize how far she has come. This film brings everyone up to date.
The documentary Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends follows Aniston’s transition to film in ‘Bruce Almighty’ (2003), ‘The Break-Up’ (2006), ‘Marley and Me’ (2008), ‘Just Go with It’ (2011), ‘Horrible Bosses’ (2011), Horrible Bosses 2 (2013) and ‘We’re the Millers’ (2013), each with over $200 million in box office receipts. She received positive reviews for ‘Office Space’ (1999), ‘The Good Girl’ (2002), ‘Friends With Money’ (2006), ‘Cake’ (2014) and ‘Dumplin’’ (2018). Life came full circle with a return to television in 2019 on Apple TV+’s ‘The Morning Show’ where she earned two Golden Globe nominations and a S.A.G. award win from the first season. The film is Directed by Danielle Winter and produced by Dana Webber, ‘Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friendsis distributed by Legacy Distribution.
Trailer Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends
Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends uses interviews, archival coverage of Aniston, commentary by Dr. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Ashton Pearson, a voice-over narrator, clips from Friends, specific films, and action “B” roll to create a well-edited, informative, and entertaining sixty-minute introduction to Ms. Aniston’s life mainly focusing on her career. The documentary will be instructive to anyone unfamiliar with all the actor’s credits. The film offers fans of Jennifer Aniston many moments that touch on personal aspects of her life, like her two marriages and divorces. These events may have impacted her life, but to what extent is not explored beyond public speculation.
As portrayed in Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends, Jennifer Aniston reveals a talented, funny, and sensitive actor who has worked hard for her success. Her successful role in Friends was not her first attempt at TV. Like most actors, she was not an overnight sensation. Ultimately, an opportunity presented itself. At the same time, she was offered the role in Friends and a role in NBC’s Saturday Night Live Comedy Show.
Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends is a well-crafted hybrid documentary with a legitimate point-of-view regarding Ms. Aniston’s talent and career. This approach makes the documentary a must-see for any aspiring actor. There are many clips of Ms. Aniston talking or being interviewed at some event. These candid moments create some reach beyond the actor we see on the screen. Her interaction with the other actors from Friends feels spontaneous. Also, her appearances with actors from some of the movies she was in, like with Adam Sandler. But they are still not Ms. Aniston “off-screen.” One wonders what she is like in a more personal setting. Granted, this documentary is not that kind of vehicle. It is a promotional documentary about Jennifer Aniston and her many achievements.
The feature-length, inside story Jennifer Aniston: More Than Friends is now available on Amazon Prime. Watch now (links) on Amazon Prime | TubiTV
Review by James R (Jim) Martin
James R (Jim) Martin is an Emmy, award winning producer, writer, director of film, television, video, multimedia and digital media productions. He has lectured on documentary subjects internationally. Most recently in several universities and forums in China. He directed the documentary filmmaking course at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He has taught directing at University of Central Florida and Film Production at Columbia College in Chicago.
Author: Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia – Third Edition 2014, Actuality Interviewing and Listening – 2017, Listen Learn Share, 2018, Documentary Directing and Storytelling, 2019. Editing Documentary and Fiction, to be published soon.
Directing Credits include two Emmy nominations and an Emmy Award for PBS documentary – Fired-up Public Housing is My Home. The Chicago Film Festival Golden Plaque for Best Network Documentary for Emmy nominee, Wrapped In Steel, also seen nationally on PBS stations. Telly Award 2018, JP’s Wish documentary, Make-a-Wish Foundation.
America, first met Michelle Obama as the wife of Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and then as First Lady. Over the next eight years she became one of the most admired First Lady’s in history. This biographical documentary explores who Michelle Obama was before that time and who she has become more recently. Michelle Obama: Life after the White House is a well-made insightful story written, directed and edited by Jordan Hill, about Michelle Robinson Obama growing up in South Chicago, her education at Princeton and Harvard Law School, her law career and ultimately her meeting Barack Obama. Followed by life in the White House and life afterward. Why today she remains extremely popular and well regarded for her achievements.
Documentary film biographies may take a number of forms. Michelle Obama: Life after the White House looks at her public persona and her transition from private life to public. The documentary appears to be drawn, in part, from Michelle Obama’s book Becoming Michelle Obama. The film, like the book looks at Michelle Obama’s roots, how she found her voice and her role as a Mother and First Lady. Becoming was published in 24 languages. It was the highest selling book published in the United States in 2018. One million copies were donated to First Book an organization that provides books to children.
The documentary film Michelle Obama: Life after the White House uses past and more recent interviews with her and others. Also, public and televised appearances of Michele Obama, commentary by a number of people including journalist Ashley Pearson and Professor Natasha Lindstaedt. There is extensive use of archival photographs dating back to Michelle’s youth. She talks about the major influence of her parents and family on her and her life. How her parents encouraged her to find her path though education. Now a mother herself Michelle Obama carries on the tradition with her daughters.
Michelle Obama’s parents and extended family are middle and working-class people who passed on the value of education and work ethics. The film explores her dedication and motivations for her progress and life choices. This includes her meeting and ultimately marrying Barack Obama. At the time she was a lawyer working for a top Chicago law firm, where Obama was hired after graduating from Harvard law school himself. The film looks at how their relationship developed. Michelle is wife, friend and trusted advisor.
The documentary discovers how Michelle had to make some adjustments to her public image as the Presidential candidate’s wife and later as First Lady. It is interesting because the film shows that this transition was mostly Michelle becoming herself, educated, warm, funny at times, and sincere. Michele’s warmth and friendliness is demonstrated in one instance when even though no one is supposed to touch the Queen of England, the Queen welcomed Michelle putting her arm around her. The queen responded by reaching around to hold Michelle. Later she invited Michelle to share her car, even thought that also is taboo.
There is a good blend of interviews, photographs, and action used to tell the story. Two key commentators help narrate the story along with others who have come to know Michelle Obama. Editing is well paced.The documentary makes use of archival family photographs and other photographs to help tell the story. Also, some footage of Barrack and Michelle Obama, including his speaking at an event about Michelle that is quite moving. Michelle Obama: Life after the White House is an interesting, entertaining and uplifting, biographical documentary about a person, a confident woman who is inspirational to all, but in particular to young women who can look to Michelle Obama as a role model in their lives.
Legacy Distribution Synopsis: “Former First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA’S story has just begun. The Obama’s have remained quite busy with their new life of activism which includes their issue-oriented production company, Higher Ground, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2020. Mrs. Obama’s autobiography, Becoming, has become the best-selling memoir of all time and even won a Grammy following the publication of her book. Get lost in the incredible journey of this modern-day First Lady’s story in the making.”
The feature-length biography is now widely available, including Amazon Prime: https://amzn.to/2XqTne5
DocumentaryReview by James R (Jim) Martin
James R (Jim) Martin is an Emmy, award winning producer, writer, director of film, television, video, multimedia and digital media productions. He has lectured on documentary subjects internationally. Most recently in several universities and forums in China. He directed the documentary filmmaking course at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He has taught directing at University of Central Florida and Film Production at Columbia College in Chicago.
Author: Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia – Third Edition 2014, Actuality Interviewing and Listening – 2017, Listen Learn Share, 2018, Documentary Directing and Storytelling, 2019. Editing Documentary and Fiction, to be published soon.
Directing Credits include two Emmy nominations and an Emmy Award for PBS documentary – Fired-up Public Housing is My Home. The Chicago Film Festival Golden Plaque for Best Network Documentary for Emmy nominee, Wrapped In Steel, also seen nationally on PBS stations. Telly Award 2018, JP’s Wish documentary, Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Bob Woodward’s new book “Rage,” brings the reader in to the story as an observer to what I call a direct documentary on paper. Journalistic film and television documentaries have a long history beginning in 1960 with Primary, directed by Robert Drew and Richard Leacock. Primary initiated a form of documentary actuality that became known as “direct cinema” a style that brought the viewer in as an observer. This journalistic documentary style of reporting also has its roots in work by Edward R Murrow and Fred Friendly. Woodward is able to create a form of visual actuality with his format and writing.
Bob Woodward’s new book “Rage” is a journalistic nonfiction book but it fits the criteria of documentary work in all the best ways. It is based on seventeen recorded interviews done over a seven-month period (in person and on the phone) with the subject of the book, President Donald Trump. The quotes used in the narrative of the book are verbatim and backed up by recorded audio interviews with Trump, others or “dark sources” (not named sources) who have also been recorded or sourced as factual accounts. The book includes sixteen pages of photographs that give a face to many of the individuals involved in this story. Woodward has taken great pains in this work to include supporting documentation with a section of extensive notes on sources and references for each chapter and an index.
Robert Caro, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Power Broker writes on the book cover: “Bob Woodward, a great reporter. What is a great reporter? Someone who never stops trying to get as close to the truth as possible. There is no truth, we all know that. No one truth. No objective truth. No single truth. No simple truth or no one simple truth either. But there are facts. Hard facts. Objective facts. Verifiable facts. And the more facts you come up with the closer you come to whatever truth there is.”
Woodward’s style in Rage is to narrate the story with his subjective experience including facts, interviews, and additional information. This brings the reader into the room with Trump and others when events unfold over seven months in 2020 as the Trump administration faces the COVID-19 global pandemic. “Rage draws’ from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand witnesses as well as participants’ notes, emails, diaries, calendars and confidential documents.”
The Story
Rage begins in the oval office on January 28, 2020 when President Trump is told that there could be a pandemic that reaches the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 675,000 Americans. “This is going to be the roughest thing you face,” said Robert O’Brien, the national security advisor to Trump. This while other cabinet members at the meeting did not think there was anything to worry about at that point. Even when, Matt Pottiner, Deputy national security advisor, said that China had already locked down the city of Wuhan, population 11 million. China was not being transparent about the virus and had refused help from the U.S. China also had stopped domestic air travel but not foreign travel. Sources said the disease was transmitted from person to person, but China did not disclose this. Trump asked what he should do? He was advised to stop foreign travel into the U.S. On January 31, Trump imposed restrictions on travelers from China. But according to the book, Trump’s attention was on other things, like the Super Bowl, rallies and political considerations.
This story revolves around conversations/interviews between Woodward and Trump either in person at the White House and background events taking place from January through July 2020. In addition, there are flashbacks to the relationships of Trump and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates. These episodes serve to establish Trump’s type of administration and the character of the President. But they also set the scene for how Trump does not really deal with the virus as most presidents would have.
Woodward’s style of writing pulls the reader into the story in a way that at times seems like it is the script for a film. But it isn’t fiction. It is actual events and statements that give insight into the handling or non-handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is scary to hear Trump content to have only 60,000 deaths knowing that as of late-September 2020 there will be 200,000 deaths nationwide. We also learn that Trump knew how severe the virus was. We hear Trump tell Woodward in February how bad this virus is, that it can kill and be transmitted in the air. At the same time Trump is telling the public not to worry, “it will go away and it’s no worse than the flu. Prior to release of the book Woodward released the actual recorded voice of Trump saying things reported in the book. This made the book feel even more like a documentary.
Rage is important, should be read and is well written. It gives insight into the personality and actions of Trump and many of those people around him like Jarred Kushner, his son-in-law. Woodward takes the reader behind the scenes. It is interesting to note that Trump consented to the interviews by Woodward after Woodward’s previous book Fear: Trump in the White House was not complimentary of Trump.
Reading the quotes from the interviews with Trump in the book brings them to life. A sense of Trump’s personality, fears and how he reacts to various subjects emerges. It seems that Trump wanted to let Woodward know something about himself, maybe that he was smart and understood how bad the virus was even though he tried to “play it down” to the country. There was also an aspect of Trump thinking he could charm or impress Woodward into writing good things about him. Woodward is fair in his style. He sticks to the facts and lets Trump have his say.
The book ends around in July. It is clear that Trump’s obsession for the past seven months was with getting re-elected. Many of the political things that are covered are coming to pass now, in September 2020, weeks before the election. In the end Woodward writes: “When his performance as president is taken in its entirety, I can only reach one conclusion: Trump is the wrong man for the job.”
Review by James R (Jim) Martin, writer, director, documentary filmmaker and professor.
Other books by James R Martin include Actuality Interviewing and Listening. And others available on Amazon and Apple Books.
Someone once asked a novelist, “which character in the story is you?” The writer responded, “all of them.” Inspiration for a story is fueled by life experience and knowledge of the subject. Some writers like Conrad believed that they needed to have certain experiences before they could write about them. Whatever the case it seems that it is imagination that ultimately creates the story. Gatsby In Connecticut: The Untold Story explores the notion of what influences F. Scott Fitzgerald’s living in Westport Connecticut with his wife Zelda may have had on his writing the novel The Great Gatsby.
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story, directed by Robert Steven Williams, begins in Westport, Connecticut where F. Scott Fitzgerald and his recent bride Zelda lived for a short time. Their house was a cottage adjacent to a large 175-acre estate owned by Frederick E. Lewis, a millionaire who was known for throwing lavish parties at his mansion. Since the central plot of The Great Gatsby has a similar situation, the question becomes, was this millionaire, with his lavish parties and the proximity of his mansion to the Fitzgerald cottage the inspiration for the novel? Most scholars up until now barely acknowledge that Fitzgerald lived in Westport. So the mystery is, was his living in the Westport cottage the inspiration for the Great Gatsby novel? The novel is set on Long Island, N.Y. not Westport, Connecticut. The Fitzgerald’s also lived in Great Neck, Long Island.
“Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story was inspired by the 1996 New Yorker article by Barbara Probst Solomon, which unveiled her theory that the West Egg in Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” was not based on an actual place in Long Island, but rather in Westport, Connecticut which held a special place in Scott and Zelda’s hearts.”
Watch the Trailer
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story presents its narrative against a wonderful backdrop of footage and photographs of the 1920’s in the New York and Connecticut areas. Visuals and music combine to create a feeling for the era and an understanding of the influences on Fitzgerald. A combination of interviews with knowledgeable individuals and narration by Keiv Dullea tells the story. The documentary features Sam Waterson who played in the 1974 Gatsby film. While exploring the main subject of where the inspiration for the setting of Gatsby may have come from, the documentary also looks at the trials and tribulations of being a writer to some extent. What factors might have motivated F. Scott Fitzgerald, to get his first novel published? Also how his relationship with his wife Zelda developed. How they may have collaborated on some of their novels.
Zelda and Scott
The story begins the summer Zelda and Scott spent in Westport Connecticut. In the process, we learn how Zelda and Scott met and ultimately married when his first book This Side of Paradise was published. After having been rejected two times by Scribner & Son Publishers it was finally accepted. Zelda and Scott got married immediately after it was published. The lived in New York City for a few weeks. They then moved to a cottage in Westport, Connecticut which is about 55 miles from New York City.
You don’t necessarily have to be a fan of the Gatsby novel, a literary or film buff to enjoy this documentary. It is entertaining and informative with new insights. The pace of the editing, as well as the period photographs and music keep things moving. Actor Sam Waterston, who portrayed Nick Carraway in the 1974 The Great Gatsby film says, “This film does an excellent job of capturing an important aspect of Westport’s literary history and it helps to establish the town’s rightful place in Fitzgerald’s legacy.”
Vision Film Synopsis
“”The untold story of the summer Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived in Connecticut which inspired one of the world’s most beloved novels: “The Great Gatsby”. Everyone knows the book, the films, and series, but who knows the truth? Track down the mystery millionaire who threw extravagant parties, uncover new evidence of the location and players, and dig deep to discover the real-life Jay Gatsby himself.”
“Initially I thought this was just a three-month project to document the Fitzgerald’s Westport period for the local historical society,” says director, Robert Steven Williams. “But as we dug deeper, we realized how important the Westport period was to both Scott and Zelda. Along the way, we uncovered academic secrets and a lawsuit to stop the leading Fitzgerald scholar from rewriting parts of Gatsby. Most important, we were able to bring to life an overlooked period of Scott and Zelda’s that had a profound impact on their lives including their art, the novels, their love.”
“Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald were larger-than-life individuals and director Robert Steven Williams was able to capture the excitement and decadence of the roaring 20’s in Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story,” says Vision Films CEO/Managing Director, Lise Romanoff. “The history behind one of the world’s most beloved books and films, “The Great Gatsby”, is so intriguing that this incredible documentary will not only be loved by Fitzgerald and literary fans, but by anyone who has an interest in American history.”
Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story will be available on September 1, 2020, on DVD from all major online retailers and on digital for an SRP of $4.99 – $9.99 from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere.
Director/Producer Joyce Marie Fitzpatrick and Director/Producer/DP Brian C. Shackelford. Editor, Brian C. Shackelford
Review by James R (Jim) Martin
Documentaries come in many different forms and styles but there are two important aspects needed for a serious documentary exploration. That its approach is based on objective reality (facts) and that it be informative. At the same time, a documentary is expected to be interesting to watch. The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital meets all these criteria and also makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge concerning the history of the U.S., the history of African American’s and the culture of the country.
The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital is a topical, relevant, and important documentary film. The story is told in a warm and personal fashion by the people who lived and were part of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital over the years. Directed and Produced by Joyce Marie Fitzpatrick and Brian C. Shackelford the film makes use of archival footage and photographs, action, and interview footage. It is fast-paced and makes good use of archival material as well as first-person interviews. The documentary is being released by Vision Films in association with Flatcat-Productions, LLC and Tunnel Vizion Films, Inc.
Homer G Phillips Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital brings to light the origins and history of this groundbreaking hospital that brought healthcare for African Americans in St. Louis at a time when it was greatly needed. After much controversy and delay the Homer G. Phillips Hospital opened in 1939 when much of the country still practiced segregation. It was the first public hospital fully staffed and administered by African Americans. This story has universal appeal and should be seen by everyone wishing to understand more about the evolution of healthcare and racial politics in the U.S. It is especially relevant today when we see the Coronavirus Pandemic taking a greater toll on minority communities where there are less or no public health care facilities.
The documentary constructs the story in a chronological fashion first showing the environment and conditions where Black Americans lived in a particular St. Louis neighborhood known as The Ville. The Ville was a small entirely black community where residents of varying education and economic levels lived and prospered as they would in a typical middle-class American family neighborhood. Building the hospital became the dream of Homer G. Phillips, a lawyer, and activist who lived in the Ville. Phillip’s efforts were instrumental in the hospital finally being built after the city of St. Louis delayed it for ten years. The opening in 1937 meant that African Americans in this area would finally be able to get state-of-the-art medical care and treatment. The clandestine closing of the hospital by the City of St. Louis in 1979 was a severe blow to the community. The closing was met with protest and rioting at the time.
Nurses graduating training at Homer G. Philips Hospital
During its existence, Homer G. Phillips Hospital became well known for the excellence of its medical staff and quality of care. It produced the largest number of black doctors and nurses in the world. “I was very proud to tell the story of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital because it truly is the Hidden Figures of black medicine,” says director Joyce Marie Fitzpatrick. “I hope everyone who sees this film can appreciate the contributions made and understands the disparities that African Americans and other minorities still face today during these turbulent times.”
“The film has taken away Best Documentary at Montreal International Black Film Festival, Gary International Black Film Festival, National Black Film Festival 2019 – Houston, Texas and I See You Awards 2019 – Detroit, Michigan, as well as being an Official Entry at several film festivals including St Louis International Film Festival, Reel World Film Festival, and Kansas City Film Fest International.” – Vision Films
The Color of Medicine: The story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital will be available on May 12, 2020, on digital for SRP of $4.99 – $9.99 from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere. DVD purchase at $12.99 online at all major retailers.
Synopsis
“Boasting the largest number of black doctors and nurses in the world, Homer G. Phillips Hospital opened its doors in 1937 during a time in history when America still had segregated medical facilities. Through first-hand accounts, witness the controversial history of the hospital’s medical training and how it continues to affect the lives of its practitioners, patients, and community. While its founder attorney Homer G. Phillips was mysteriously killed, the hospital in his name thrived during the most turbulent of segregated times, allowing so many people of color to achieve greatness for the benefit of humankind.”
“The film features Dr. Earle U. Robinson Jr., a 2nd generation physician, and alumnus from Homer G. Phillips hospital, who not only shares his unique and colorful personal story but also that of his father’s who was one of the first 27 black graduates of this ground-breaking facility. Dr. Earle U. Robinson Jr. stated, “Before these events are lost with my passing, I want to make sure people have the opportunity to learn about such a monumental place in history. The best times I’ve had in my life were the years I spent at Homer G. Phillips.” – Vision Films
“The historical importance of Homer G. Phillips and the hospital named after him cannot be understated, especially at a time where individuals in the medical field are more important than ever,” says Vision Films Managing Director/CEO, Lise Romanoff. “We’re reminded now that illness does not discriminate, and this important film celebrates the contribution to medicine from the African American community.”
Trailer The Color of Medicine: The Story of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital
Maserati – 100 Years Against All Odds is a documentary that looks at Maserati’s history along with the history of auto racing. Maserati’s place in the auto-racing world is well known. What is not as well know is the struggle and survival “Against all Odds,” faced by the Maserati founders and corporation over the last one hundred years. The documentary’s combination of historic racing footage, first person interviews and narration informs and entertains at a good pace.
Maserati – 100 Years Against All Odds opens with images of the Maserati sailing and racing yacht under the Maserati Trident, as it surges through ocean swells, to convey the unrelenting spirit that propels Maserati. This documentary tells the human side of the Maserati legend as well as the evolution of the automobile brand.
Maserati Brothers
You don’t have to be an Italian automobile or auto-racing fan to enjoy this story beginning with the five Maserati brothers born between 1881 and 1888. While not all the brothers survived to start the building of Maserati racing cars in the early 1920’s, the family name quickly became known in Italian auto racing circles, and ultimately world wide. Shortly after they got started building and racing their creations, the First World War interrupted the momentum of the company. The documentary looks at one hundred years of innovation and the constant facing of adversity to keep the Maserati name, style of auto manufacture and racing alive. However, there were many great successes in racing, design and innovation over the years leading up to the present day.
Among interviewees, who help narrate the documentary are
Adolpho Orsi, Alfieri Maserati, Paolo Pininfarina, Sir Stirling Moss, Doug
Magnon, Harald J Wester and Nick Mason.
Maserati – 100 Years Against All Odds, a film by Philip Selkirk is a well-made corporate style documentary. It incorporates, exciting archival footage, interviews and voice over narration to tell the Maserati story. Editing by Dominik Nader is well paced and keeps the documentary moving from one event to the next. The Maserati story is one that shows what determination and perseverance can accomplish in the face of circumstances often beyond personal control.
Trailer
Vision Films presents the stunning documentary made with the participation of the Maserati organization, MASERATI: A HUNDRED YEARS AGAIN
Vision Films writes: “The name of Maserati has long been associated with both prestige and speed in the world of automobiles; Vision Films are proud to present the astounding official documentary, Maserati: A Hundred Years Against All Odds. Coming soon to DVD and video on demand in the US and Canada, this film, which was made with the participation of the Maserati organization, tells the story of the luxury car brand with incredible historical images and classic footage that will delight any car enthusiast.
Celebrate the long and storied history of one of the world’s most recognizable icons, Maserati. From humble beginnings into a small Italian garage to the coveted and luxurious automobile we know today, witness the evolution of the business, the brand, and the cars themselves over 100 years. Featuring interviews with the Maserati family, world-famous racers, collectors, and more.
Featuring interviews with Harald J. Wester (former CEO of Masarati), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer), Sir Stirling Moss ( British race car driver), John Surtees (F1World Champion) and Giorgetto Giugiaro (legendary designer), this film by Philip Selkirk is a celebration of the long and storied history of one of the world’s most recognized icons. Maserarti: A Hundred Years Against All Odds will be available for the first time on DVD and video on demand on April 14, 2020.
Maserati: A Hundred Years Against All Odds will be available on digital on April 14 for an SRP of $4.99 – $9.99 from platforms including iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Xbox, Amazon, and FandangoNow, as well as cable affiliates everywhere and to buy on DVD for $12.99 online at all major retailers.”
Documentary Review by James R (Jim) Martin
Documentary Directing and Storytelling is a great read for anyone with a strong interest in documentary or nonfiction storytelling. There are many critical reviews of documentary films and the stories they tell from a directing and filmmaking perspective.
Have you ever wondered how John DeLorean, the creator of the DeLorean sports car, ended up trying to do a huge drug deal to save his company? How did this successful, enterprising, intelligent, and popular person end up sitting in a room with a suitcase full of cocaine and the FBI? Framing John DeLorean is a unique documentary style film that may answer many of your questions and provide a memorable viewing experience. The film goes beyond the sensational aspects of John DeLorean’s life to explore who the man was.
Hybrid Documentary Style
Framing John DeLorean directed by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce is a hybrid documentary that creatively combines nonfiction and reenactments featuring a performance by Alec Baldwin as John DeLorean. In the documentary Baldwin is also himself, in and out of character, as he prepares for the role. The documentary combines the reenactments, Baldwin and other actors like Morena Baccarin as Cristina Ferrare Delorean’s wife, with actual characters as themselves, interviews, archival photographs and video. While this technique may blur the line between fiction and actuality it creates an informative, less subjective hybrid reality.
DeLorean Sports Car
John DeLorean
John DeLorean and the DeLorean automobile are legend. Framing John DeLorean is an innovative documentary incorporating reenactments to bring the legend into objective reality. The film goes beyond the DeLorean sports car and the drug deal to save the company. The film brings both nonfiction and fiction together to tell the story. Framing John DeLorean manages to create a space that feels like objective reality even though it uses actors to reenact many aspects of the DeLorean story. The fact that the film makes no pretense about the reenactments being reality is important. Baldwin and the other actors seem intent on staying as close to the actuality as possible.
Delorean’s Career
The film explores John DeLorean’s career in the automotive industry before he left to build his own car. Born in Detroit DeLorian earned an engineering degree before working for various automotive companies including Chrysler and Packard. He ultimately moved to General Motors where he quickly rose through the ranks. He was instrumental in bringing the Pontiac GTO to the nation.
Alec Baldwin as John DeLorean in Framing John DeLorean
Cinematography and editing are excellent. I watched the 109-minute film on a 13-hour flight to Beijing and did not fall asleep, so the pace must have been good. Don Argott shot the film with the Arri Alexa SXT and Scorpiolens Anamorphic Lenses according to IMDB. Archival footage includes the actual FBI drug bust of DeLorian as well as the reenactment.
Currently Available on Amazon Prime Rent or Purchase and some Delta Airlines flights in December 2019 .
Trailer
Review by James R (Jim) Martin
Jim Martin is a writer, director, professor and author. He directed independent feature documentaries seen nationally on PBS including award winning Wrapped In Steel and Emmy award winning Fired-Up!
On August 15, 1977, the “Big Ear” Radio telescope at Ohio State University received an unusually powerful radio frequency signal from outer space. The signal lasted for 72 seconds and contained what appeared to be intelligent code. It was stronger than anything in the background sky that night. It was a narrow-bandwidth signal like those generated by AM radio. To this day there has not been another signal from space like it detected. Many theories and explanations have been speculated on it but none ever proved.
Wow Signal, directed by Bob Dawson, explores the world of Radio Astronomy and the search for sentient life in the universe along with the origins of the Wow Signal. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETA) is a well-known occupation of radio astronomy, however, it is only one aspect of the science. Radio Astronomers have mapped the known universe, discovered Quasars and twenty-thousand sources emitting radio frequencies in the universe around the earth.
Original print out of signal with note by astronomer.
Wow Signal traces the evolution of Radio Astronomy and looks at its contributions to the body of knowledge concerning the known universe. The story begins with pioneer radio astronomers like John D. Krause, who built homemade radio telescopes and fought to raise support and funds for the science. Krause and others were responsible for building “Big Ear” (designed by Krause), the first major parabolic flat reflector. The documentary moves from these humble beginnings to modern giant parabolic radio telescopes like the one at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bark, West Virginia. The documentary also looks at the contributions of Grote Reber who was a pioneer in developing parabolic radio telescopes. Reber’s 1937 radio antenna was the second ever to be used for astronomical purposes and the first parabolic reflecting antenna to be used as a radio telescope.
One interesting idea explored in the Wow Signal documentary is the Drake equation. The Drake equation is a summary of the factors affecting the likelihood that we might detect radio-communication from intelligent extraterrestrial life. According to Wikipedia:
The Drake equation is:
“where: N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone);
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space.”
Parabolic Radio Telescope
“WOW SIGNAL was originally released at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, OH. Successfully orbiting around the festival circuit, the documentary was an Official selection in the Roswell Film Festival and Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, as well as selected Finalists in the Raw Science Film Festival and the Los Angeles Theatrical Release Competition & Awards (LATCA), where the documentary received Best U.S. Documentary Feature.” https://rssfeeds.cloudsite.builders/2020/01/06/embark-on-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-life-in-doc-wow-signal-this-month-vod-release/
Wow Signal is an award winning, well-made, historically important documentary. It is both informative and entertaining shedding light on a science that is often misunderstood and seen as having a low priority for funding. It uses both contemporary interviews and footage with archival photographs and film. Wow Signal makes a strong case for radio astronomy and the continued search for extraterrestrial life in the universe. The notion that “we are not alone,” and its ramifications are a strong motivation for continued research. The film is educational and highly recommended for anyone interested in Astronomy and/or the universe around us here on earth.
Trailer Wow Signal
TriCoast Entertainment will release WOW SIGNAL onto digital platforms 1/21/2020 (FlixFling, Vimeo on Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and more).
Wow Signal Review by James R (Jim) Martin, author, director/producer
I Used To Be Normal – A BoyBand Fangirl Story, directed by Jessica Leski, is a documentary for anyone who has been a Fan Girl at some point in her life or knows someone who is on that path. This story evolves around at least three hardcore fan girls and one, more reflective, Beatles fan. Of course you might just be interested in the subject and enjoy the story.
I Used To Be Normal –A Boy Band FanGirl Story both informs and entertains giving insight into a phenomenon that has been around for a very long time. Female followers have been there for “heart throbs” singers like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and many others before “Boy Band” groups emerged. In a casual way, I Used to Be Normal explores question of why someone might be a fan girl, by focusing on the lives of four women, of different ages, living in a western cultural context. They share in being die-hard fans of what the documentary classifies as Boy Band musical groups. To director Jessica Leski credit the film does allow some insight into the subject of Boy Bands and Fan Girls. As a documentary, I Used To Be Normal might fall into a social, women’s studies or even Salvage Anthropological category.
Elif is a young woman of sixteen from Long Island, New York. She is a passionate fan of a Boy Band Group called “One Direction.” Her Turkish Immigrant parents do not support her fandom or her life choices. There is Dara, from Sydney, Australia who at thirty-three has a second “coming out,” regarding her Boy Band obsession, with her female partner. In particular her obsession with Gary Barlow from the “Take That” band boy group. In the film she realizes she wants to be Gary Barlow. Twenty-five year old Sadia, living in San Francisco, is a first generation Pakistani-American. As a teenager she formed a fan club for the Back Street Boys and has developed an ongoing emotional bond with the group. One of the most interesting women is Susan, sixty-four, from Melbourne, Australia who talks about her being a fan, over the years, of the Beatles. But her appreciation seems to be more than an adolescent preoccupation with boys. Susan adds an analytic, more mature voice to being a fan over time and an appreciation for the music.
Having lived through the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other male groups with large fan bases, that might have qualified as “boy bands,” I can attest that some groups were admired by all genders for their musical abilities. Not to say that there weren’t hysterical young girls screaming and fainting at Beatles concerts. The Rolling Stones may not have developed as large a “fan girl” following as the Beetles. But not many people would have described the “Stones,” as cute back then or now.
DANA’S BAND BOY THEORY BOARD
One of the things that Dana, the “Take That” fan, does in the documentary is break down what Boy Bands have become. This is an important scene in the film, especially for anyone not aware of how boy bands are manufactured. While, One Direction, Take That and The Back Street Boys fit her description, it may be stretching it a bit to include the Beatles in that category. At best they may have become the original model for Boy Band’s, as we know them today. Boy Bands are groups of young men that are brought together by a producer to meet certain criteria. The average band’s life span is about five years. The group is created for the specific purpose of appealing to young girls and women. Their musical abilities are secondary and in some cases non-existent. But three of the women in the documentary, at whatever age, aware or not, don’t seem to care. The Beatles came together as a group on their own.
While the four women in the film represent a certain segment of fans, they do not represent all women. We are left to wonder if they are the exception rather than the rule. Do most young girls outgrow the emotional attachment these women demonstrate? The documentary does not really go there. Susan, the Beatles fan, reminisces about the music and the lyrics she remembers. The Beatles wrote all their own songs.
The documentary uses interviews with all of the women along with some archival footage of groups performing, often with girls emotionally reacting. As one of the girls in the film says, this experience is one that is a “rite of passage,” something they need to get out in their teen years. While the interviews are good, their use in the documentary seems excessive. In some cases they go off into the personal lives of the girls and you have to wonder why? How does this help us understand more about “Boy Bands” and Fan Girls? One of the girls graduates from High School. Two of the four women take walks on the beach.
TRAILER
There are no experts on this subject interviewed or quoted in the documentary. We view this behavior strictly from the point-of-view of the characters who don’t seem to know why they behave this way either. Will they grow into middle age still going to boy band concerts? How representational are they of women in general? In many respects it is refreshing to be able to observe and form our own opinions.
Cinematography and editing of the documentary are well done. The pace of the editing is slowed by the interviews with Elif and Sadia. These interviews feel a bit self-indulgent. But perhaps the message is that their parents unwillingness to support them in their lives leads them to substitute the boy bands for emotional comfort.
I Used To Be Normal – A BoyBand FanGirl Story is a documentary worth watching from many standpoints. It sheds some light of the phenomenon through the life experiences of some real fan girls. The film is non judgmental, it simply tells their stories from the inside looking out. It may help others realize they are not alone in their Boy Band fandom.
Review by James R (Jim) Martin
TriCoast Entertainment will release the film onto digital platforms (Amazon, iTunes, DirecTV, AT&T, FlixFing, InDemand, Vudu, FANDANGO, Sling/Dish) on Sept. 17th, 2019.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, a new documentary film directed by Morgan Neville, is part nostalgia, part biographical and especially a socially relevant story about Fred Rogers’ and his contribution and dedication the welfare of children. This excellent documentary tells a story that is moving, informative and has a sense of humor. It seems in keeping with Mr. Rogers’ and his Neighborhood.
Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was one of PBS’s best children’s shows. The program ran from 1968 to 2001. It has been watched by generations of children. The documentary traces the personal history of Fred Rogers and his television career from its beginnings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There are interviews with Fred Rogers, before he passed away in 2003, his wife Joanne, sons, family, friends and coworkers.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” appears to be a compilation of archival footage of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, archival interviews with Fred, and others. Interviews with Joanne Rogers, his wife, and other people, adds a personal touch, when they reveal just who some of the puppets and characters in the show are based on. With all the archival material editing is important and in this case excellent, smoothly blending all elements into a well-paced ninety-four minute story. The editors are Jeff Malmberg and Aaron Wickenden.
Archival clips from the early days on television, when Fred Rogers first stared, help show his mission, of which, he never lost sight. He wanted to help children learn and to protect them the trauma the real world. There are many scenes in the documentary that demonstrate that Fred Rogers had a special talent for communicating with children. He respected children and knew how vulnerable they could be to the stresses of world events like war and death.
Fred Rogers, an ordained minister, believed that all people are unique and special in their own way. He did not teach religion or entitlement. He enabled respect and caring for self and others. “Love thy Neighbor as thy Self.”
The documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is well worth seeing, remembering and enjoying.
“In, ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,’ Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet from Stardom) looks back on the legacy of Fred Rogers, focusing on his radically kind ideas. While the nation changed around him, Fred Rogers stood firm in his beliefs about the importance of protecting childhood. Neville pays tribute to this legacy with the latest in his series of highly engaging, moving documentary portraits of essential American artists.”
Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)
Chinese Americans boycotted a law that they had to carry photo ID’s
The Chinese Exclusion Act, a Steeplechase Documentary, airing in May 2018 on PBS, directed by Ric Burns and Li-Shin YU, looks at the history of Chinese immigrants to the US and their sixty year exclusion from becoming citizens, even when they were born in the U.S. The Exclusion Act in 1882 came after forty years of discrimination and harassment of Chinese coming to California for the Gold Rush and to work on building the Trans Continental Railroad leg, from California to Utah. In the case of the railroad, Chinese workers were encouraged to migrate to California from China. The Chinese were treated far worse than European Immigrants, like the Irish and Italians, who were also treated badly. However, European Immigrants never had an “Exclusion Act” to deal with, and complete exclusion from any path to citizenship or guarantee of basic human rights.
The Chinese Exclusion Act, edited by Li-Shin Yu mostly conforms to the same editing style seen in Ken Burns’ (Ric’s Brother) films. Archival photographs and other documentation combined with interviews with experts, historians, voice over narration, music and effects tell the story. There is an interesting use of effects in the documentary. Very subtle presence tracks are often heard under the voice over narration. This adds depth to the photographs being used and the narration.
Lim Ben and Alice Wong family standing L to R: sons Frank, Bill, Henry, Jimmy, George. Seated: Alice Wong, Lim Ben, daughter Nancy
The pace is excellent and the two-hour documentary opens up an aspect of US history of which not many people are aware. The Chinese Exclusion Act may be difficult to find in American History Books. But it is a significant part of history. The documentary makes no direct references to current anti-immigrant rhetoric, however, the similarity is obvious. By exploring this issue the documentary should help all Americans to see how history repeats itself. The documentary also reveals the deep-rooted tribalism that emboldens racist and ethnic hostility.
The Chinese Exclusion Act is an Educational documentary, about American History, Chinese American History and a clear look at racial attitudes in the US. It also examines how politics and politicians can manipulate people to turn on other people. This story is an “eye opener” about the early Chinese American experience and how it connects to the history of the country.
“This couldn’t come at a more important time in our country… because it tells a story, it tells our story. It shows what was done to our people, but it is also relevant to our present moment, and what is going on today, with anti-immigration laws and prejudices and what’s going on with the Muslim ban. They all have their roots, legally and politically in Chinese exclusion.”- Historian Mae Ngai at THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT screening.
Wong Kim Ark
An important part of the documentary looks at how Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese American born in the United States, who fought to get back into the country, after he traveled to China. In a test of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, carried all the way to the Supreme Court; the court ruled in 1898, that Wong Kim Ark had acquired U.S. Citizenship at birth. This ruling defined and supported the Amendment and established the precedent, guaranteeing that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen.
This documentary is currently airing on Public Broadcast Television nationally in the U.S. (As of May 29, 2018)
Amazon
[amazon_image id=”B07BF2PQK8″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Chinese Exclusion Act DVD[/amazon_image]
“THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT” ” is a production of Steeplechase Films and The Center for Asian American Media, in association with The New-York Historical Society. The Chinese Exclusion Act has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Additional funding provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The Committee of 100. Major funding for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.”
CAAM’s”Who is American?” Immigration, Exclusion, & the American Dream educational and community outreach program for “THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT” PBS documentary, is supported in part, with support from the Committee of 100 and with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
COMMUNITY/EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH | SCREENINGS | THE TEAM | NEWS | GALLERY | CONTACT | DONATE This couldn’t come at a more important time … Continue reading The Chinese Exclusion Act
Books by James R Martin
[amazon_image id=”B07DZRVBT5″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Documentary Directing and Storytelling: How to Direct Documentaries and More![/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702388″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
A good documentary should stimulate your mind to consider questions and issues that may not have occurred to you before. Lo and Behold – Reveries of The Connected World, written and directed by Werner Herzog, does make us think and it contributes to the body of knowledge about the subject of the Internet, both technically and culturally. In fact the documentary seems prophetic, at certain times, when we consider recent revelations about the Internet being used to hack and interfere in political affairs, infiltrate power grids of businesses, utilities and governments.
This well-edited and well-paced documentary is divided in to ten areas that consider and explore ideas, personal views and issues about the Internet. First the “Early Days” and an explanation how the Internet began, what it is and what it could have been. Next, “The Glory of the Internet” a look at some interesting uses and outcomes of people connected creatively. Part three, “The Dark Side”, is a look at some of the more sinister uses of the Internet. Followed by “Life Without The Internet” and people who have learned to live without cell phones including Herzog. Part five, “The End of The Internet,” what would life be like with no Internet. Then part six, “Earth Invaders,” where we meet famed hacker, Kevin Metnick who talks about the uses of metadata and the prospects of cyber war. The Internet was not designed for privacy. In the seventh segment, “Internet On Mars,” Herzog interviews Elon Musk about his ambition to colonize Mars and bring the Internet with him. Part eight “Artificial Intelligence” looks at the role of AI and how it is tied in with Internet. The ninth segment, “The Internet of Me.” Is the Internet the worst enemy of critical thinking? Lastly, part ten covers “The Future.”
From a directing standpoint, Lo and Behold is a classically structured documentary that explores issues on a particular subject. In this case the Internet. The approach is similar to other documentary films directed by Werner Herzog in that, at times, the documentary may seem a bit theatrical. For example the use of music that seems a bit foreboding and dramatic. Herzog has a knack for finding both expected and unexpected sources for interviews. His interviews allow the interviewees to express their experiences and point-of-view. Most of the time Herzog removes his questions but at times we hear his comments or narration. There is a subtle sense of irony and humor in Herzog’s approach to storytelling. The story moves seamlessly from one topic to another using interviews with experts, people who’s lives have been affected by the internet and visual complementary action, that includes graphics and animation to help tell the story. The story, typical of Herzog, has a mix of fact, emotion, mystery and conspiracy. In this story it all seems to be based in actuality.
Herzog is able to go beyond the expected and explore issues in a way that stimulates thinking based on new and sometimes novel insights. “Lo and Behold” definitely leaves the viewer with something to think about.
Documentaries by Werner Herzog: Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams and others.
OFFICIAL TRAILER
Lo and Behold Available on Netflix
AMAZON (CLICK COVER BELOW)
[amazon_image id=”B01KZKMQXI” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World[/amazon_image]
Books by James R Martin
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”B0799P7HNJ” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ][amazon_image id=”0982702388″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways[/amazon_image][/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
Just when you thought you knew everything about the Beatles along comes Ron Howard with a new traditional documentary film focusing on the Beatles in the beginning, getting underway, then moving on to the years of touring the world, reaching crowds so large they needed super big venues like Shea Stadium housing 50,000 fans at a time on some occasions.
Eight Days A Week asks why, and looks at how the Beatles became such a huge sensation and success. Many possibilities are explored using actual footage of the young Beatles, combined with performance, studio sessions, film clips with behind the scenes from Help, Hard Days Night, and coverage of events, as the Beatles phenomenon grows. Some interviews appear to have been recorded back in the sixties and pulled from archival sources, although there are also good contemporary interviews in the film with Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and others.
Ron Howard as director of Eight Days A Week created a well made traditional compilation documentary built with restored archival footage, paced and edited to keep a an audience occupied and entertained. He allows the good-natured personalities of the young musicians known as the Beatles to emerge during the film. They are band members and friends. It becomes clear that part of the success of the Beatles is their enthusiasm and passion for their music. They love what they do, but do not take themselves too seriously. Contrary to how it may have seemed when they became famous they had put in time slogging away in England and Germany learning performance and writing songs. Brian Epstein’s critical role as the first manager of the Beatles is also apparent in the documentary. George Martin’s producing the music is another important part of the success of the group that is highlighted in Eight Days A Week.
One really amazing reality covered in the documentary is the reaction of teenage fans to the Beatles. In particular young girls, who scream, applaud, cry, become ecstatic, overwhelmed and unconscious at the sight of the Beatles. A head shake by John, Paul, Ringo or George can induce rapture in fans from across the world.
It was the early sixties; perhaps these teenage fans needed the joy and happiness the Beatles’ projected in their performances. Their early songs of “boy meets girl” and love have become classics. The unassuming, unpretentious performance of the Beatles is something to appreciate in this well made documentary.
Eight Days A Week is an excellent documentary for anyone, beginning with those who experienced those days, to others who are just discovering the Beatles and their timeless and now classic music. Eight Days A Week is enjoyable and informative. Highly recommend! Great if you can see it in a theater with good audio. The theatrical release includes thirty minutes of coverage from the Shea Stadium performance in 1962. The sound is a lot better than if you were there, since it was originally played through the stadium PA system!
Review by James R (Jim) Martin
Trailer
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
Directed by
Ron Howard
Produced by
Brian Grazer Ron Howard Scott Pascucci Nigel Sinclair
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”B01M13O81J” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years (Blu-Ray Deluxe)[/amazon_image]
The best documentaries both inform and entertain. The viewer learns something new and enjoys the experience. Meet The Patels, winner of the audience award at the 2014 Los Angles Film Festival, achieves these goals as it explores the pressure on Indian American families to keep up their culture and traditions like marriage, when dealing with their American assimilated, second generation children.
This documentary is about Indian Americans, but it is also representative of what happens with other ethnic groups that have resettled in North and South America over the years. All ethnic groups coming to the United States have experienced the pressures of assimilation. Second generation children of immigrants grow up in an environment that is much different from the one the parents came from. The children want to fit in and be accepted in the new culture. Families want their children to marry members of the same ethic or religions group for many reasons. When the children assimilate into the new culture they develop different priorities. Going back to the country of origin to find a mate is difficult as this person may be more compatible with the parents than the child from a cultural standpoint.
Ravi V Patel is both the focus and co-director, with his sister Geeta V. Patel, of the documentary Meet The Patels. Ravi and Geeta’s parents are unhappy that both children, pushing toward thirty years old, have no prospects or plans for marriage. The story evolves around this issue. The father came to the US in the late 1940’s, from the Gujarat area of India, Later he took a trip back to India to marry and bring his new wife back to the US, where Ravi and Getta were both born. It was a traditional arranged marriage. His wife also belonged to the Patel clan, which is considered a caste in India. Patel’s try to marry other Patel’s and there are, according to the parents, many different types of Patels. The documentary looks into “Patel World” in an often-humorous insider fashion.
Ravi works as an actor and Geeta is a filmmaker. They are both typical “Twenty-something” Americans, but of Indian heritage. They do not necessarily want to follow the traditional arranged marriage route. They love their parents and family and would like to please them. After Ravi breaks his two-year relationship with a non-Indian girl, a relationship he kept secret from his parents, he decides, mostly to please his parents, to try their methods for finding a bride. The documentary centers on this process and the methods employed in the search. This includes a family trip to India. The Indian tradition of arranged marriages and finding a marriage partner is not like the American dating style.
Indian families, the Patel’s in particular, have developed a unique international search engine of sorts to help a form of matchmaking that may work better in some ways than many online dating services. In particular, the use of bio-data exchanges. These are basically resumes with compatibility comments and recommendations from family.
Meet the Patels is an unpretentious, first person documentary that is well paced using some animation to fill in any gaps in the narrative. Some scenes may not win awards for cinematography, but the spontaneous feel of the camera work does make you feel like you are there. Editing is good. The story is engaging and one you will remember. This is a documentary well worth seeing from many standpoints. Whatever ethnic group you belong to you may find aspects of Meet The Patels familiar.
[amazon_image id=”B015XC8BT6″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Meet the Patels[/amazon_image]
Books by James R Martin
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Where To Invade Next is a documentary you won’t forget once you see it. With humor and insight Michael Moore again provides us with food for thought, literally in one instance and figuratively in other ways. This is an important next documentary by Michael Moore after SICKO made about six years ago. This time though Michael Moore takes on a mission, apparently sanctioned by top Pentagon military experts, to invade other countries, win a war and bring back important ideas.
Where To Invade Next is a documentary everyone, especially Americans, should see and think about. It is fast paced, well-edited and explores issues that are topical and great importance for the survival of the United States and perhaps some other countries as well. Michael Moore is at his peak in actuality storytelling with humor and seriousness when necessary. Where To Invade Next doesn’t say other countries are perfect or better than the USA. It just goes after their best ideas and asks the question why not try these ideas in the USA. Why can’t these concepts work in the USA?
Many issues and ideas are explored in Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia (not Slovakia), Germany, Portugal, Norway, Tunisia, and Iceland. These ideas and issues are compared to what is done in the United States. What is revealed is shocking and mind altering. It becomes crystal clear that somehow the people of the United States, the richest, most powerful country in the world, are missing the boat when it comes to taking care of its citizens on many fronts.
TRAILER
Since Franklin Roosevelt rescued this country from pure capitalism and the depression era, with social reforms, there has been a concerted effort by far right capitalists (the same ones that wrecked the stock market and the country in the late 1920’s and 1930’s) and others, to stop any type of social progress in the United States. They have succeeded in many ways, time and time again, to this day. Where To Invade Nextreminds us that social, government enacted legislation benefits all classes of people. These benefits and reforms not only work, they often end up costing tax payers less and helping all people lead a happier, more secure life.
Where To Invade Next is a not too subtle reminder of what the middle and working class people of the United States have been deprived of while many European countries and others have moved ahead with progressive notions on health care, education, equal rights for women, workers rights, drug abuse, prison reform, and family planning. In addition how other countries have dealt with major past problems in their cultures so that they can move on and not repeat the same mistakes. But these types of reforms only happen when citizens demand it by protesting and voting for candidates or parties that advocate basic social amenities for all people.
In typical Michael Moore style he interviews people and visually shows how they live and how their approach to various social solutions work. Michael Moore turns the old Duck Soup line around and asks, …are you going to believe what you see or what the propaganda machine in the US in telling you?Where To Invade Next asks why many other countries have free college education, nutritious food in schools, do not arrest people for drug use, have prison systems that rehabilitate, encourage people to vote, have successful family planning, women’s rights and a basic bill of rights for working, middle-class people.
One interesting fact, among the many, that Where To Invade Next brings to light, is the fact that many of these ideas and concepts actually came from the United States! But they were, hidden, killed and squashed before they could benefit anyone. One concept is as old as our constitution.
While it would be interesting to see a documentary about how all these good ideas got lost in the USA, Michael Moore takes a much more proactive stance showing how these now “alien” ideas actually work. Where To Invade Next brings these ideas back home and suggests we take another look at them.
Where to Invade Next should be seen by every man, woman and child in the United States, as soon as possible. It is a documentary that explores actuality, not the false mantra of “me first” used to manipulate Americans.
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[amazon_image id=”B01D0D3P5U” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Where To Invade Next[/amazon_image]
Review by James R (Jim) Martin, Documentary Filmmaker and Author of:
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702388″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
Vivian Maier was born on February 1, 1926 in New York City. Around the age of 25 or 26 she started taking photographs, about 100,000 or more pictures by the time she died on April 21, 2009, ninety-nine percent of which she never showed anyone. She worked as a Nanny and/or Housekeeper most of her life using her spare time to photograph in New York City, Chicago, a village in France, and on an eight-month world tour accompanied by her trusted twin-lens Rollie camera hanging from her neck. Her work was discovered two years before she died but she was unaware of it. It included documentary style photography, 8mm film and audio recordings.
Two years before she died, on April 21, 2009 in Chicago, storage lockers where she stored her work and other things were sold at auction for non-payment of the monthly fees. John Maloof bought boxes of negatives and went on to buy more boxes of negatives, undeveloped rolls of film, 8mm and 16mm movie film from other bidders later on. He discovered the inspired work of Vivian Maier and ultimately brought her photography to public attention.
Finding Vivian Maier Documentary. See trailer below.
There are now two documentary films about Vivian Maier. 1)The Vivian Maier Mystery, fifty-three minutes, released in 2013 by BBC. 2) Oscar Nominated, Finding Vivian Maier, 84 minutes, released in 2013/14 by Sundance Selects, directed by John Maoof and Charlie Siskel.
Vivian Maier Mystery Documentary
In addition there are several books, two of which are: Vivian Maier – Street Photographer, published by powerHouse Books and edited by John Maloof. The second titled Vivian Maier: A PhotographerFound also by John Maloof. Vivian Maier – Street Photographer is a great representative collection and introduction to Maier’s work. The book allows you to see through her eyes and get to know her through her work with no distractions. Maier has a well-developed sense of composition, contrast and focus. With the twin-lens reflex camera hanging from her neck she looked down into the view finder and shot from about waist-high most of the time. While she did shoot many self-portraits, she took herself out of the rest of what she shot. It seems like most of the time the subjects are not aware of her being there. She photographed everywhere from rough urban slums to elite suburban settings where she worked. She shot children, groups of people, portraits, street scenes and events with a journalist’s eye. Much of her work would have looked at home in Life Magazine of the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Vivian Maier had an eye for the ironic juxtaposition of people and their environment. For example a small boy standing on a wood frame looking into a very large box on a city sidewalk or a Father holding up his son’s leg to look at his shoe as the boy hangs on to him for balance looking uncomfortable. She also likes the light, texture and patterns seen in urban environments. Her portraits show something deeper than the faces of her subjects. Somehow she captures an intimate moment when someone’s personality pops up for a second. Her work demonstrates sensitivity to social and cultural aspects of what she shoots.
The Vivian Maier Mystery Documentary and Finding Vivian Maier Documentary, each have something to offer anyone trying to discover who this talented photographic artist is and how she got that way.
At first Vivian Maier does appear to be something of a mystery, a mystery she surrounded herself with. Both documentaries, through interviews with the grown up children and clients she worked for, mention how little they really knew about her and how secretive she was. She would not discuss her family or anything personal usually. However, on one of the tapes she made interviewing a woman about her meeting Rudolf Valentino, Vivian appears to do more talking than the interviewees including meeting she had with celebrities and her impressions of certain places she visited or lived in.
The Finding Vivian Maier documentary is longer and more in-depth in certain areas than The Vivian Maier Mystery because it has John Maloof interviews and access to his huge collection of photographs, negatives, and film footage that Vivian Maier shot. The Vivian Maier Mystery spends a bit more time looking into Ms Maier’s time in France and tracing her family. It also interviews collectors other than John Maloof.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding Vivian Maier and her estate that consists only of the copyright ownership of her work. She died with no known relatives except for a couple of second cousins in France. Maloof was able to get a release to publish and print the photographs from one of the cousins. Another collector, Jeffrey Goldstein, with 17,500 photographs also believed he had cleared rights until Cook County in Illinois, in charge of Maier’s estate, sent letters out stating that no one had clear rights to distribute the work. Cook County was searching for Vivian Maier’s brother who no one had seen, who disappeared scores of years ago and was presumed dead. Although Maloof had gotten permission from a living relative, he had not cleared it through probate court, so his permission deemed was not legal. Articles on this subject at http://www.vivianmaierprints.com/vivian-maier-articles.html
Prices for prints of Vivian Maier’s work are still available and costly. Jeffery Goldstein sold his collection to a gallery in Canada. Other galleries and Maloof are still selling prints. Vivian Maier did not print much of her work. She had the film developed and saved the negatives. So prints of her work have a third-party involved. Dark room printing of photographs is part of the photographer’s art. The good news is that her composition and framing were pretty specific so printers may be able to focus on contrast and exposure issues.
Aside from all the controversy Vivian Maier is an important American photographer and artist. The documentaries and books show her amazing life and work. The mysterious part is why she didn’t seek some sort of show or outlet for her work. It comes to light in reading the books and looking at the documentaries that at certain times she did try to show her work. For example she tried to negotiate a deal with a printer in France to make postcards from her pictures. Still she was secretive and didn’t push to show her work to anyone.
It is possible that Vivian Maier fancied herself as some sort of undercover photographer at certain times. She took on the role, and point-of-view of a photojournalist at times. She did interviews with people on her portable recorder on topical subjects like elections. She took pictures of celebrities and politicians. All her work is documentary in some form. Something in her personality prevented her from seeking employment as a photographer or seeking a wide audience for her work. If the postcards had been printed and sold, she would still be basically anonymous. Employers, their children and one or two friends all described Vivian as opinionated and at times argumentative or short-tempered. Although her work shows clearly that she had a sense of humor and progressive social tendencies.
Hopefully, when all the legal maneuvering is finished a traveling show of Vivian Maier’s work can be put together so that the world can see her work in person.
Review by James R Martin – Documentary Filmmaker, Author – Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia
Trailer Finding Vivian Maier
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The PBS – American Experience: Walt Disney documentary provides an uncensored, well researched, exploration of Walt Disney, the man, his work, and his passion for achieving goals. The 221 minute documentary looks into Walt Disney’s contributions to the art of film, his strengths and weaknesses. The film examines Disney’s great insight into American culture and at other times his opaque insensitivity to historical, political and social issues facing Americans. Walt Disney was an artist and an entrepreneur, greatly aided in his goals by Roy Disney, his brother, who complemented Walt’s apparent obsessive personality with practical nuance.
American Experience: Walt Disney informs and entertains. It is a great biography of Disney and the development of animated feature films. From a historical filmmaking point of view the documentary is a treasure trove of information, enhanced by the unlimited access given American Experience, to the Disney historical archives. There are photographs, and documentary footage of Walt Disney though out his life. Disney seemed to have someone there taking pictures or shooting activities all the time. The film’s narrative structure is greatly enhanced by this visual actuality of events. Interviews with people who knew Walt Disney also help tell the story. There is a linear chronology of Walt Disney’s life contrasted with events and life around him. Clips from classic Disney films are included throughout the documentary.
Walt Disney’s early attempts at creating short cartoons for distribution ultimately lead to the creation of Mickey Mouse, demonstrating Disney’s innovation including the first use of audio for an animated short. These early scenes in the documentary may be of particular interest to aspiring filmmakers as well as Disney fans.
One of the most interesting aspects of the documentary is Walt Disney’s idea to create a feature-length animated film that was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Because of Disney’s determination to create a perfect, artistic film that transcended the notion that animation was only for cartoons, Snow White took five years to make and greatly exceeded its original budget. When it was finally released it was a huge national and international success. It achieved all that Disney intended, except winning an Oscar for Best Film. It did win an Oscar for innovation which didn’t really meet Disney’s expectations.
American Experience: Walt Disneyis set up in two parts that total four hours. It is well-edited and does not lag or get redundant. In fact there seems to be a pick-up of pace in the last hour to cover Disney Land creation, it’s success, the beginnings of Epcot, Disney World in Florida and Walt’s untimely death at age 65 from Lung Cancer. This is a biographical film about Walt Disney; however, it might have included more about his brother and alter ego Roy Disney. This is not to say Roy’s important role in Walt Disney’s life is ignored. It’s that Roy seems to always be in the shadows making things happen and trying to rein in his brother. It would have been interesting to know more about Roy and how he accomplished these things. Perhaps Roy Disney is another story.
The documentary does not gloss over Walt Disney’s problems with his employees, unions, his obsession with communists everywhere, or his insensitivity to minorities and racial stereotypes like those seen in Song of the South and other Disney films, television programs and other endeavors. In many ways it seems from watching the documentary that Walt Disney mirrored the cultural biases of his generation.
American Experience: Walt Disney does what an excellent biographical documentary should do. It explores reality, in this case the life of Walt Disney, with the goal of understanding who he was as a person and what he created during his lifetime. The successes, the failures and personality traits of a creative human being in the context of the world they lived in.
American Experience: Walt Disney aired on PBS in mid September 2015. It is available on Apple TV and on DVD from PBS and Amazon.
Review by James R (Jim) Martin – Documentary Filmmaker and Author
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
Trailer
DVD
[amazon_image id=”B00YJDHA7U” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]American Experience: Walt Disney[/amazon_image]
“…the Constitution, baseball and jazz music. They’re the three most beautiful things Americans have ever created.” – Gerald Early
Jazz is one of Ken Burns’ best documentary films. Like most of his work the series transcends being solely a factual historical record. Burns puts the facts into historical and social context. Jazz, the documentary, fits the evolution of Jazz music in with American culture, Black History, people and politics of the United States. The history of Jazz, it turns out, is born out of circumstances uniquely American, to a large extent, in New Orleans of the 1890’s. Jazz —“It is a creation of the African-American community there, but incorporates all kind of music heard in the streets of what was the country’s most cosmopolitan city.” Jazz soon moves out of New Orleans and becomes a national passion. This documentary will either introduce you to Jazz or increase your appreciation and enjoyment of this music.
Documentary films come in many forms, evolving from the simple recording and editing of events to hybrid styles that incorporate fictional recreations of events. Ken Burn’s documentaries do not recreate events using actors. Instead he incorporates, often meticulously restored or discovered, archival photographs, film and documents, to create a narrative structure.
Ken Burns has created his own documentary niche. His forte is historical documentaries that delve into American culture and life since the Civil War. According to Erik Barnouw, in History of Non-fiction Film, Ken Burns is the only Documentary Filmmaker ever invited to be a member of the Society of American Historians. “Burns was the first ever elected without having written a book. Recognition of documentary as a medium for the writing of history.” –Barnouw
Wynton Marsalis
In the opening minutes of Episode One, musician Wynton Marsalis states, “Jazz music objectifies America. It’s an art form that can give us a painless way of understanding ourselves. The real power of Jazz, the innovation of jazz, is that a group of people can come together and create art, improvised art and can negotiate their agendas with each other, and that negotiation is the art.” Other interviews or commentary throughout the documentary by, Albert Murray, Gary Giddens, Stanley Crouch, Gerald Early and others give ongoing narration.
The story begins by introducing the environment, politics and culture of the day, then exploring how it all got that way. Individual artists are highlighted against the backdrop of their world. There are dozens of parallel themes that weave their way though this documentary. One theme, that also exists in other documentaries, like Civil War and Baseball by Burns, is the ongoing, vitriolic backdrop of race relations and racism in America. The documentary does not ignore racial segregation and the way black musicians were treated in America.
Another theme is the history of the country and the world to some extent. The major theme, of course, is exploring Jazz music; although some critics’ feel the documentary isn’t inclusive enough of all who contributed. Despite this possibility, Jazz does a great job introducing those interested in music to the subject and wetting appetites for more. Documentary films are visual and always subject to holding the viewer’s attention. Books can be read at any pace. Unlike a history book, of unlimited length and verbose explanations, a documentary film must be succinct, keep pace and fit into a time frame from which most people will view it. Music historians, experts and professors would do well to consider this as a documentary film intended for all audiences, not a history book. Even nineteen hours is not enough to cover the history of Jazz completely.
Louis Armstrong
Film and video are, primarily, a visual mediums. More recently sound has become a more equal partner in telling the story in film and video. However, the medium is still dominated by the visual part of the presentation. A contemporary viewer/listener can see and hear at the same time, absorb, understand and appreciate the visual/audio gestalt. As tempting as it might be, filmmakers do not have the luxury, in a documentary about music, to hold a picture or a blank frame, for the music to play for three minutes, so the composition can be listened to exclusively.
Ken Burns’ documentaries are notoriously long. At ten episodes, the total running time for Jazz is about 19 hours. But each of the ten episodes moves along at a good pace. Listening to Jazz, hearing Jazz artists and others talk about Jazz is not difficult. Perhaps because the music is so vibrant, the documentary often feels like a music video with actuality footage. There’s a lot to be learned here not only about Jazz but also about the America it evolved in and in-turn helped shape.
Jazz was aired on PBS in the year 2000. It reportedly cost $13,000,000 to make. That’s an average of $1,300,000 per, roughly ninety minute to two-hour, episode. In true Ken Burns, and traditional documentary style, there are no actors hired to recreate historic events. Historic archival photographs, film or video footage, interviews and voice-over narration by interviewees, historians and others are the basis for the story. It is well-edited and paced. You probably won’t “binge watch” all nineteen hours and that’s good, because there is a lot to enjoy, and think about. As Ken Burns has said, “meaning accrues in duration.” So take your time, enjoy and learn.
When Ken Burns said, “meaning accrues in duration,” he was originally referring to an editing style that usually takes its time. In the case of Jazz the editing pace is driven by the music, (497 pieces of music) which makes things feel like they are moving faster. There are times when it does seem the theme is digressing a bit too much into the context side of the story of Jazz, but not very often. Jazz both entertains and informs on many levels. The documentary offers a wonderful combination of music, and story. In the words of Ken Burns, “[Jazz] is the soundtrack of America.”
Ken Burns reflecting about his work in The Making of Jazz, a special short documentary on the first episode disc, mentions that he has spent a total 16 years of his life working on three films; Civil War, Baseball and Jazz. He mentions a quote by Gerald Early, “…when they study our civilization, two thousand years from now, there will only be three things that Americans will be known for: the Constitution, Baseball and Jazz music. They’re the three most beautiful things Americans have ever created.”
“And JAZZ is also a story about race and race relations and prejudice, about minstrelsy and Jim Crow, lynching’s and civil rights. JAZZ explores the uniquely American paradox that our greatest art form was created by those who have had the peculiar experience of being unfree in our supposedly free land. African-Americans in general, and black jazz musicians in particular, carry a complicated message to the rest of us, a genetic memory of our great promise and our great failing, and the music they created and then generously shared with the rest of the world negotiates and reconciles the contradictions many of us would rather ignore. Embedded in the music, in its riveting biographies and soaring artistic achievement, can be found our oft-neglected conscience, a message of hope and transcendence, of affirmation in the face of adversity, unequaled in the unfolding drama and parade we call American history. “ — Ken Burns
Trailer
Episodes
Episode One, 90 minutes, entitled Gumbo sets the stage for the birth of Jazz and traces the roots, music and culture that nurtured it in New Orleans. Some would dispute the notion that New Orleans was the exclusive “birthplace” of Jazz but the documentary makes a good case for New Orleans as the epicenter for the origins of Jazz. Wynton Marsalis and others add their personal, often profound, observations about Jazz including its evolution and artists. Even if you never watch the other nine episodes you will have a better understanding and feel for the roots of this American music form after watching this episode. It’s likely, however, that you will want to watch the rest of the story, especially, if you have a love of music and/or American history.
Episode Two, 120 minutes, entitled The Gift, captures the musical magic of this era and begins around the time of Prohibition, and a booming stock market. It introduces Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington as well as Jazz development in Chicago and New York cities. Louis Armstrong’s life and his “gift” are explored. James Reiss Europe’s contribution to marching bands and Jazz music, set against the backdrop of WW1 and the African-American troops fighting in France. Duke Ellington’s Blessed beginnings in Washington DC. All of this at a time when Jim Crow practices and the Klu Klux Klan threatened minorities. This was a time when Jazz music was said to threaten the morals of young people dancing to the sound. By the end of Episode 2, Louis Armstrong brings his genius to Rose Land in NY City and Fletcher Henderson’s Band.
Episode Three, 120 minutes, entitled OurLanguage, Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, Bands and people who contribute to the evolution of Jazz. Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters sing the Blues, Bix Beiderbecke a white Cornet player from the Midwest, plays Jazz, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw become a part of the scene. Dance bands with all white or black musicians play venues for all audiences in the mostly segregated world of the day. Duke Ellington played for white only audiences at the Cotton Club in New York City and is broadcast on radio all over the country. The Paul Whiteman Band became well-known. But in the end it’s Louis Armstrong’s amazing work that takes center stage. Armstrong along with Earl Hines record “West End Blues,” a truly classical piece of music, featuring Armstrong’s, Blues inspired, improvisational style.
Episode Four, 120 minutes, entitled The True Welcome, goes from the twenties to the stock market crash in 1929, after which some said the Jazz age was over. Up until that time musicians like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Fletcher Hendricks, and other had played for small, mainly black audiences. As radio broadcasting of music came in and started to broadcast life performances, first Duke Ellington from the Savoy, Jazz became popular. People started dancing to a form of Jazz called Swing. Ellington ushered in the “Big Band” sound and was soon followed by other bands. Louis Armstrong set the tone for Jazz in the 1930’s when he started doing “skat” singing along with his trumpet playing. His style was known as “Black and Blue.” Chick Webb, a drummer put together a band that played at the Savoy in Harlem. Soon Benny Goodman came along with his band and three-hour Radio Broadcast. This episode covers a range of musicians who made their mark on Jazz. John Hammon, Billy Rose, Art Tatem and Jelly Roll Morton to name a few in this episode. In 1933 Duke Ellington brings his band to Europe playing numbers like Mood Indigo. Europe embraces Ellington and Jazz.
Episode Five, 90 minutes, entitled Swing Pure Pleasure, covers the mid 1930’s, Jazz goes mainstream with white musicians and bands. Benny Goodman, known as the “King of Swing,” Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Miller and Artie Shaw. Meanwhile Duke Ellington continues to builds in own sound and band. Louis Armstrong starts his band. Billie Holiday begins her career. At the end of this episode four thousand people come to the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to see “The Music Battle of the Century,” a face off between Goodman and Chick Webb.
Episode Six, 105 minutes, Swing:The Velocity of Celebration, where two amazing Jazz tenor sax musicians emerge. Lester Young with own distinctive sound and Coleman Hawkins with his voice. In Kansas City Count Basie creates his own Jazz sound. Chick Webb, almost reluctantly, introduces Ella Fitzgerald to the world. Billie Holiday sings “Strange Fruit,” expressing her personal pain and indignation of racism in America. Duke Ellington tours Europe weeks before World War II begins.
Episode Seven, 120 minutes, Dedicated to Chaos, covers the Jazz world against the backdrop and chaos of World War Two. A lot is happening in music, from Charlie Parker’s improvisation and original approach on Alto Saxophone to the fact that 30 million Jazz music records were sold in 1940. “Swing” music and dancing were at a peak and big bands would go to war with the country. Louis Armstrong’s band toured the United States. Duke Ellington and his band had their own sound and style. Dizzy Gillespie trumpet is unforgettable. Billie Holiday sings Lady Day, Duke Ellington Orchestra performs his forty-four minute composition at Carnegie Hall with First Lady Elenore Roosevelt in attendance. Dave Brubeck talks about playing piano as a soldier in Europe. But when he returned to the US after the war his integrated band could not stay in the same hotel.
Episode Eight, 120 minutes, Risk, Charlie Parker’s genius is focused on as well as his tragic, short life. Parker and Gillespie invent a new Jazz sound called Bebop as Gillespie’s band tours the country. New artists, bringing new ideas, emerge including Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis. First International Jazz Festival held in Paris, 1949. Parker records an album called “Parker with Strings.” Bird Land, club named after Charlie “Bird” Parker, opened in New York City. In 1957, Miles Davis’s album, “Birth of the Cool,” made up of recordings from the late 1940’s, was released by Capitol records, establishing Davis and his music to a wide audience.
Episode Nine, 120 minutes, The Adventure, Jazz takes on different styles “the definition of what was Jazz and what was not began to blur.” Matt Glaser, musician states, “ When we talk about music, the reason we use terms that sound vague is not because there is anything vague about music, but because music expresses human experience so specifically, in such specific ways, that when you use language to describe that the words fall short…” In episode nine Charlie Parker’s career is ended by Heroin addiction. Miles Davis records on Prestige label with many well-known artists of the fifties and sixties. Clifford Brown establishes a no drugs life style. Sara Vaughn sings. In 1957 Louis Armstrong sees Little Rock disaster and refused to go on International tour for the State Department. Art Blakey and the Jazz messengers with Horace Silver and Jimmy Smith appear. Billie Holiday and Lester Young perform together. John Coltrane breaks new ground in 1961. Jazz takes an avant guard turn with Ornette Coleman and his quartet.
Episode Ten, 120 minutes, A Masterpiece By Midnight, essentially a wrap up from the 1960’s, of the entire documentary introducing artists and trends up to the year 2000 when JAZZ was aired on PBS. The narrative incorporates domestic and world events with the evolution and emergence of a number of trends in Jazz. Specific artists are also covered from Louis Armstrong’s unexpected hit with “Hello Dolly,” to artists like Max Roach, Charlie Mingus, Abbey Lincoln, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Bird, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and others. So much has continued to happen to Jazz Music since the year 2000, that it seems time for a sequel in 2016.
LINKS
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[amazon_image id=”B000BITUEI” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”1721679464″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Documentary Directing and Storytelling: How to Direct Documentaries and More![/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702388″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
“A civilization without insanity, without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.” –L. Ron Hubbard
The Going Clear documentary is based on a book written by Lawrence Wright, titled Going Clear: “Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief.” Scientology objects to the book and the documentary. As recently reported (8.5.2015) by the Guardian: the church, from its Los Angeles HQ, has denounced the film as a “one-sided, bigoted propaganda built on falsehoods” and informed by former members – whom it calls “misfits”.
In April, the church said in a statement: “The Church of Scientology will be entitled to seek the protection of both UK and Irish libel laws in the event that any false or defamatory content in this film is broadcast within these jurisdictions.”
Going Clear is a well-made film. Good editing and use of archival material and interviews. There is a lot of footage of Scientology events and places. Scientology officially calls it “propaganda.” But that label is not appropriate unless it can be shown that the filmmakers are misrepresenting the truth and hiding their true point-of-view (POV). A documentary film is not propaganda simply because you don’t agree with it’s premise or reality. One definition of a propaganda film is that is was made by a government, with a political philosophy or by institutions with missions. Going Clear does not meet these criteria.
Going Clear has a point-of-view that it doesn’t try to hide. All documentaries have a point-of-view. A documentary cannot help but be a subjective exploration of human reality. The fact that you do not agree with the point-of-view of a documentary does not make the documentary propaganda. Going Clear uses first person interviews from many people expressing their experiences. Evidence supporting the filmmaker’s POV is presented and explored.
Watching the documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief brought back memories of a visit I made to East Grinstead in England, where there is a Scientology center.
Scientology Headquarters – East Grinstead
My friends Pam and Henry, talented painters and pottery makers, who I met in Harrogate, Yorkshire, had moved to East Grinstead. We kept in touch and when I came back to England to study film at the London Film School, in the early 1970’s, they invited me to visit them in their new home and studio in East Grinstead, a town in the northeastern corner, West Sussex. Not that it would have mattered to me, had I known, but Saint Hill Manner, in East Grinstead, was also the home of L. Ron Hubbard and the Headquarters for Scientology in Great Britain.
Pam and Henry had become Scientologists. They gave me a tour of the facility and some literature including Hubbard’s Dianetics, and a pamphlet of Axioms. They told me that Scientology was becoming a religion and was looking for recruits to become what sounded to me like ministers or perhaps monitors. I said, I was passionate about studying film but in any event could not afford to join Scientology. They said not to worry about money that “Ron would find a way.” I asked why Scientology was becoming a religion? They said to avoid persecution and get tax-exempt status. I chose to continue to study film.
I read the Dianetics book and other literature; some of it made sense on a practical level. But I never joined Scientology nor have I ever paid the Transcendental Meditation people for a mantra. I think “self-help” is a good thing, but do not like paying someone else to help me “self-help.”
The Going Clear documentary is a pretty straightforward expose style piece that mainly goes after the management of the International Association of Scientology (IAS) and the Church of Scientology. In particular it singles out David Miscovige, a self-appointed protégé of L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) and current Chairman of the Board, as a megalomaniac and serial abuser of staff. Going Clear also questions and explores the not-for-profit, religious status of this Billion-dollar corporation.
David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board
Going Clear begins with a history of L. Ron Hubbard and how he ultimately founded Scientology based on his Dianetics Book. In addition to interviews with Sara Northrupt, Hubbards first wife, the film uses a some interviews, archival photographs, video and a few minor, apparent recreations to tell the story. The film depicts LRH has a prolific author of science fiction, much of which is incorporated into the back-story of Scientology. A number of insiders, like Paul Haggis, Jason Begle and Spanky Taylor, who have left Scientology after long association, paint a grim, behind the scenes, picture and how Miscovige consolidated his power and keeps people in line. They also discuss what amounts to a form of brainwashing they believe is practiced in Scientology.
Going Clear also looks at the auditing process which is the corner-stone of Scientology and the way one becomes “Clear.” Using a device, with two cans that one holds and that are connected to a meter, electrical impulses are monitored during what is called and “audit.” This contraption has been characterized as one-third of a lie detector machine. The person doing the monitoring asks questions and makes copious notes of each session. People who join Scientology pay to go through a long series of audits on what is called a “bridge” to becoming clear and ultimately achieving “Theata” status.
Two celebrities who are well-known Scientologists are focused on in the documentary. They are John Travolta and Tom Cruise. Neither Travolta nor Cruise was interviewed for the Going Clear documentary but there is still plenty of footage of them in the film. Travolta joined Scientology early on in his career. He seems a fairly non-controversial member. Tom Cruise’s story is different, especially during the time he was married to Nicole Kidman. The documentary makes the case that Miscovige interfered in the marriage, secretly, and later overtly, because he believed Kidman, who he labeled in Scientology speak, “a suppressive person,” was pulling Cruise away from Scientology. After Kidman and Cruise divorced, Tom Cruise was back, prominently representing Scientology as a spokesperson.
The Going Clear documentary goes beyond perceived and documented issues it finds with Scientology. By default it brings attention to the tax-exempt status of some institutions that seem more about making money than any kind of not-for-profit mission. It also may ask exactly what constitutes a religion? Is Scientology posing as a religion? Did Scientology harass the IRS into giving it Not-For-Profit, status as a religion, which also gives Scientology certain First Amendment protection. Are there other institutions in the same category? There have been other negative documentaries and book about Scientology. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is hard to ignore.
HBO – 120 minutes – Directed by Alex Gibney
Review by Jim Martin, documentary filmmaker, writer, director and author.
Books by James R Martin
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
Nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Length Documentary category 2015, Virunga, a Netflix movie, is a story that takes the viewer into the chaos of the war-torn Eastern Congo and Virunga National Park in the Congo, where dedicated Park Rangers struggle to protect the last of the Mountain Gorillas and preserve the park and its residents.
Poachers endanger the gorillas. Park rangers discover a massacre of gorillas by people trying to exterminate them for the land. Militia groups, including the rebel group M23, make war against the Congo government adding another layer of fear. International corporate entities interested in the rich natural mineral resources of the area, including drilling for oil in Virunga National Park, create a situation where Park Rangers and officials are at odds with SOHO the oil exploration corporation. While the humans fight for their piece of the pie, Verunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its inhabitants, animals of all types, become vulnerable. For some interests, the gorillas, and all the other animals are expendable.
One of the themes in the documentary involves three young orphaned gorillas rescued by the Park Rangers and now in their care. As the war encroaches on the park the care of the young gorillas becomes increasingly more difficult. Seeing these young gorillas and their affection for the Rangers is heart warming.
It seems that the animals and humans in and around Virunga face similar problems as the war engulfs their constant struggle for survival. This documentary does an excellent job of telling the story by being there in the park. The filmmakers are with the rangers, the oil company (SOHO) security, the indigenous people living in the area, government soldiers and rebels as events progress. The documentary shows the refugee camps on the southern border of Virunga Park where thousands of people are living displaced by the rebels and war. Interviews and conversations with certain characters seem to be done without the interviewees knowing it. This is a pretty risky tactic for the filmmakers if they are caught since value for a person’s life is low.
VIRUNGA combines nature documentary and journalistic reporting from a war zone. The filmmakers face many life-threatening situations as they go with Park Rangers through the park to check on the gorillas and other animals. The rangers must deal with poachers and rebel militias.
VIRUNGA is a story that demonstrates the cruelty and greed of humans and the humanity shown by a few people in times when all around them is made hostile.
VIRUNGA is a documentary film that brings into focus the realities of this area of Africa and perhaps sheds light on some of the problems facing many of the former European colonies in Africa. The indigenous people have no history of self-rule. Even with independence they are still fair game for exploitation by international corporate entities that can buy their way into these countries.
VIRUNGA — Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, Produced by Joanna Natasegara and Orlando von Einsiedel, Cinematography Franklin Dow, Editor Masahiro Hirakubo. A NETFLIX FILM – 100 MINUTES – COLOR
Review by James R Martin, Documentary Filmmaker and Author Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia
Trailer
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxXf2Vxj_EU’
Virunga Available on NETFLIX
Links to books by James R Martin
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”B0799P7HNJ” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Listen Learn Share: How & Why Listening, Learning and Sharing can Transform Your Life Experience In Practical Ways[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
Levitated Mass, directed by Doug Pray is a documentary that has appeal as an adventure story, exploration of the place of monumental art in America, the work of an artist with and alternative view of space and time, and it all revolves around a 900 million year old rock. Levitated Mass is the saga and implementation of an idea originally envisioned in 1968 by artist Michael Heizer.
Levitated Mass is a well-made documentary that both informs and entertains. Doug Pray’s previous documentaries include “Yelp.” “”Scratch,” “Big Rig,” and “Art & Copy” among others.Levitated Mass will keep you involved and finding answers to questions you may come up with while watching. This is a story about many things including art and how it relates to life for the artist and the audience.
The Levitated Mass adventure begins when Heizer finds a huge granite boulder, a survivor a 2005 quarry blast, that meets the vision he has had for the rock he wants to use for a monumental sculpture. Heizer contacts Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) who agrees to take on the project, including moving the two and half story tall, 1.2 million pound rock to the museum site in LA County, from a quarry near Riverside, California 105 miles away. Moving something heavier than a 747 airplane over the roads and through 22 cities, each with their own laws and permitting process, is no easy task. But the journey, as seen in the documentary, engages the imaginations of thousands of people along the route. Interviews with spectators in various places along the way allows the documentary to explore how this part of the experience engages the public who now feel they are a part of this work. The “Rock” is a celebrity passing through town for all to see.
[box] “We’re living in a world that’s technological and primordial simultaneously. I guess the idea is to make art that reflects that premise.” Michael Heizer, Sculpture in Reverse 1984 [/box]
Moving the rock is only part of the story. A concrete space needs to be built for the installation to hold the rock, levitating so that people can walk under it and all around it. Through out the story Michael Heizer’s work, installations from all around the world are shown. In the process a fundamental understanding of his concepts of negative space and monumental sculpture comes across.
Levitated Mass documentary starts with a planned explosion at the quarry where the pure granite “rock” was born. When the dust settles in the private quarry near Riverside, California the rock and some back-story are introduced. Archival footage going back to a sculpture done by Heizer in 1969, in Bern, Switzerland and combined with interviews are important to the documentary in that they furnish insight into the seriousness of Heizer’s work and the philosophy behind it. His work controversial at times, too large for museum interiors; Heizer moved his work outside. He is perhaps the originator of what has come to be called “Land Art.”
A large part of the of the documentary is the preparation and actual moving of the “Rock” from the quarry near Riverside, California to the Los Angeles County Museum. A colossus transport vehicle 450 feet long is put together to hold and move the rock at a snail’s pace from city to city. Permits are required and the route must be planned so as not to destroy highways, bridges and overpasses along the way. This is a monumental journey even with modern equipment and resources. A reminder of what ancient civilizations may have faced moving non indigenous rocks to build Stonehenge or sculptures in Mexico.
Levitated Mass is an important and entertaining documentary on many levels. The pace, editing, cinematography and story bring new insights forward as well as questions about the role of art, in particular large sculpture, in the modern world. Also what will this current civilization leave behind for succeeding civilizations? What will be the modern pyramids, Stone Hedge or other edifices seen 500 or a 1000 years from now?
[amazon_image id=”0982702329″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Documentary Storytelling Techniques for Film, Video, the Internet and Digital Media Projects.[/amazon_image]
[amazon_image id=”0982702361″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Actuality Interviewing and Listening: How to conduct successful interviews for nonfiction storytelling, actuality documentaries and other disciplines … (Documentary and Nonfiction Storytelling)[/amazon_image]
“Director Sun’s film showcases life in the Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of Chinese Chan and Kung Fu. She follows several monks and a Ph.D. candidate conducting fieldwork to explore the philosophy of peace and enlightenment through martial arts. It depicts their daily meditation, martial arts practice routines, and challenges outside the temple. The film portrays the realities of their lives and unwavering commitment to their chosen path, featuring ordinary mortals instead of Kung Fu heroes or Saint Monks.”
Marta Neskovic, a 26-year-old doctoral student from the University of Belgrade in Serbia, studies at Shaolin Temple. She dresses in gray garments like the monks and students. She practices Kung Fu and learns Ch’an Buddhism and the Chinese language. At the same time, she is working on her thesis. Marta’s story is about adjusting to life at Shaolin and keeping in tune with her family and friends.
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