Documentary Faculty & Alumni Inspire Social Change

Filed under Features, Videos by Naomi Kothbauer on September 5, 2011 at 12:07 pm {no comments}

Documentaries are primarily made to educate and entertain.  But in some special cases, the impact of their content goes much further.  As faculty member Jeff Spitz would say, “The outreach and impacts from a documentary film can ripple across a decade or more, inspire congress and move mountains.”

After the earthquake in Japan, Navajo protesters remind Americans that nuclear poisoning is happening in their own backyard.

Jeff’s feature documentary “Return of the Navajo Boy” has been out for a few years now.  It was featured at Sundance in 2000.  But even with the actual film complete, Jeff and his staff at viagra Educational Films (including Viva Doc alumns Arlen and Mitch) continued documenting the challenges in Navajo country (mainly, the pollution and sickness caused by local uranium mining).  They spread the word through screening the film at community centers and periodically uploading new video content to the website and Facebook page to keep audiences engaged.

Finally, just over 10 years after the film was initially released, the EPA has announced that they are going to clean up Monument Valley (where the film primarily takes place) and compensate the featured Cly family for the costs incurred because of the pollution.  An article from Navajo Times with more information can be found here.

Certainly the story of the film and the events inspired by it are remarkable.  They remind us that when an issue, and the story around that issue, are strong enough, it is our duty as documentarians to continue harnessing our filmmaking powers to promote social change.  It takes a lot of work and a lot of time, but the results are priceless.

Jeff Spitz currently teaches two documentary classes at Columbia: Documentary Research & Writing, and a documentary topics class called Chicago: My Kind of Town.  For more information on how to enroll in Jeff’s classes, or get involved in Groundswell projects, email him at jspitz@colum.edu.

You can watch the trailer for his film here:

Viva Doc Alumn Wins Student Academy Award

Filed under Features, Post Archive by deborah on September 4, 2011 at 12:53 pm {no comments}

There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that Wonjung Bae is one of the rising young stars in the documentary production field.  She has a considerable knack for capturing emotions and tones, while always having a realistic mindset about what logistics productions will entail.

Wonjung accepting her Student Academy Award

We were so happy for Wonjung when, over the summer, we got on update that she had received a Student Academy Award (probably the highest award a student filmmaker can receive) for her documentary “Vera Klement: Blunt Edge.”  The short film covers the artistic process and inspiration of Vera, a painter living in Skokie, surrounding the events of her 80th birthday party.  It includes Vera’s quirky, yet serious mannerisms, while the gorgeous cinematography mimics Vera’s art itself.  You can watch a previous cut of the film here, and another artist portrait film of hers here.

We would like to congratulate Wonjung on her success, and wish her the best in the future.  She completed her masters degree and graduated last May.

Watch her acceptance speech here:

Viva Doc Alumns at Kartemquin Films

Filed under Articles, Features, Post Archive by deborah on September 4, 2011 at 12:38 pm {no comments}

One of the advantages of being involved with Viva Doc is meeting industry professionals and other great networking opportunities.

Recently, Viva Doc is proud to announce that a number of our current members and alumns have found themselves interning and even working for esteemed, award-winning documentary production companies (including Towers, Kurtis, and Kartemquin).

Viva Doc alumns Naomi Kothbauer, Jeff Perlman, Mary Horan, Patrick Lile, Jonathon Vogel, and Orion Pahl are among some of those who have interned with Kartemquin Films.  Jeff was recently hired on  for part-time outreach work, and Patrick has been also hired on to do outreach for The Interrupters, a new film from the makers of Hoop Dreams which is already being called a potential Oscar contender.

We interviewed Naomi Kothbauer (last year’s Viva Doc president) about her experience interning for Kartemquin Films.  If you are considering getting an internship, there are some great tidbits of advice below.  And as always, please come to our meetings this semester for more workshops and networking events that can prepare you for an internship.

Jeff Perlman (right), Viva Doc alumn, has been helping out at Kartemquin

Viva Doc: So, tell us about your general experience with internships?

Naomi: Well, I’ve had three so far…my senior year, I interned at Towers and Kurtis, and I just wrapped up a summer internship at Kartemquin.

Viva Doc: What is the internship application process like?

Naomi: Well, it really depends on the place.  No matter what, though, it’s important that you follow the directions they supply.  Deadlines, references, application forms…all that.  Violate anything and you are automatically disqualified.  Internships are highly competitive, so if they see something wrong, they will usually toss that application just to thin out the pile.  Same thing with film festivals, usually.  And as far as Kartemquin is concerned, I (and many others) had to apply twice or even three times to finally get an internship.  The first time I applied, I didn’t even get an interview because over 200 people had applied for just 5 positions.  So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a call back after your first time applying somewhere.  Just consider it to be a chance to strengthen your resume for the next time you apply.  The more you apply, the more they know that you’re really serious about the internship and about committing yourself to their work.

Viva Doc: What did you like most about the Kartemquin internship?

Naomi: There was so much, honestly.  In general, internships can kind of drag when you’re stuck doing a lot of the tedious work, but with Kartemquin, they tried to get the interns involved with a lot of different processes.  I got to go on shoots, transcribe, help with social media/marketing/PR, and every week they had workshops where the interns got to learn from Kartemquin filmmakers.

Viva Doc: What are you experiences with internships and pay?

Naomi: Well, due to the economy, most internships don’t offer pay.  But it’s important that you communicate clearly with them from the get-go so that you reach a mutually-beneficial agreement.  You interning is important, but you working and being able to pay your bills is also important.  Especially if you’re interning, working, and taking classes…try to not overdo it.  You’ll get burnt out really fast.

Viva Doc: What kind of advantage has Viva Doc given you and others when it comes to getting internships?

Naomi: Well, Viva Doc has always offered a lot of opportunities for students to interact with people working in the field.  Networking is so important.  Also, Viva Doc has hosted a few industry professional peer-review sessions where professionals come in and rate student films, and so far many of the Viva Doc members who have shown their films to Kartemquin folks have also gotten internships there.

Viva Doc: What are some tips for those who are looking to build their resumes/filmographies?

Naomi: One of the best things you can do is to consider yourself a brand.  You’re essentially selling yourself to them, so think about what kind of imagery you want on your website, your resume, your business cards, etc.  It should be unique and speak of your skills.  Also, for those folks who don’t have a lot of work or film experience, just think about the transferrable skills you learned from various things and infuse that language into your resume.  For example, I worked as a shift manager at McDonald’s in high school, so in my resume I put a short description like “managed a diverse group of people and helped them perform their best in a high-stress environment.”  I told them what I accomplished at that job, not just what I did.  Nobody cares that I made burgers or handed food out of a drive-thru, or at least, not literally.  My accomplishments, however, could be easily related to a film/production environment.  If you’re looking to get an editing gig, try to highlight your organizational skills, no matter the job.  If you’re looking for something that involves a lot of interpersonal interaction, try highlighting social skills and group settings in job descriptions.  You know, that sort of thing.

Viva Doc: Thanks for your feedback, Naomi.  We hope to continue our tradition of connecting Viva Doc members to internship and job opportunities!

20th Anniversary of the Doc Center

Filed under Events by Mario Contreras on April 25, 2009 at 7:41 pm {no comments}

Join us for The Doc Center’s 20th Anniversary Bash!
Wednesday, April 29th, 4:00pm – 7:00pm
1104 S Wabash Ave, Rm 407, The Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary
Come celebrate the past, present and future of Columbia’s innovative center for documentary filmmaking!

4:00pm: Food, games, friends, and fun!
5:00pm: A Panel Discussion with Michael Rabiger, Russell Porter, Judy Hoffman, Tod Lending, Suree Towfighnia & Arlen Parsa
6:15pm: Shorts screenings of a selection of current and past Columbia short documentaries

Here’s the Facebook Invite!!

In Order Not to Be Here (2002)

Filed under Reviews by Andrew Rosinski on March 2, 2009 at 2:22 am {no comments}

Deborah Stratmans \"In Order Not to Be Here,\" (2002).
In Order Not to Be Here is the inspired, award-winning vision from Chicago-based experimental filmmaker and artist Deborah Stratman. Rife with creepiness, In Order feels like a bad-dream—or a leaked surveillance video from a lurking shadow government—it’s a dreamy, objectively-haunting, quasi-surveillance video. It’s also a film that poses many questions, one being the inevitable query of categorization: docudrama or experimental narrative?

In Order opens with an aerial, infrared intelligence video of a k9-team, who is in the midst of a hunt; following radio command from a offscreen surveyor, the dog-team slogs through darkness to capture an unknown figure.

A more subdued middle-passage succeeds this gripping opening, shifting focus to an indexing of familiar suburban imagery (e.g. fast-food, fences, street-lights); alas, we confront the bleak reality of our consumer-driven milieu—and, yes, it’s also a reminder that we know the characteristics of a McDonald’s building far too well (!).

A memorable chase scene book-ends this and, again, Stratman experiments with the aerial point of view camera. In fact, Deborah employs a handful of experimental film techniques throughout, including modified usage of the Kuleshov Effect, which proves to be sharply effective in a small number of instances, the most notable being audio from a news report (or quasi-news report) detailing a fire, which plays over this concluding chase, and, in turn, bestowing new meaning upon the image—altering a unknown runner into a fleeing arsonist, adding a sense of suspense and story.

Subversive and soigne, subterraneous and shadowy, In Order Not to Be Here is trenchant proof that Deborah Stratman is a trail-blazer clearing her way to the forefront of contemporary experimental film. ▲

Deborah will screen and discuss her newest work, an 55 minute experimental doc, O’er the Land (2008), on 4/15/09, part of Viva Documentary’s Winter Film Series. Deborah’s doc, The BLVD (’99), examines Chicago’s the subterranean street-racing culture, and will screen at viva doc on 4/7/09).

Deborah Stratman’s website, Pythagoras Film

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