Timothy Tamisiea will represent the Viva Doc this Thursday with the only documentary to be accepted into Big Screen 13. Timmy was kind enough to share a rough cut with us at the end of last semester and, just like in real life, everyone there was touched by little LukeRead More →
Starting tomorrow, for two weekends only, the wizards, masters, and warriors of documentary will come out and play. At the 2009 Producers’ Series Eye-Witness – Focus On Documentaries April 4-5 & 18-19 Film Row Cinema Columbia College Chicago 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor Two full weekend sessions that cover theRead More →
Johnathan Olsheski, an up-and-coming Philadelphian filmmaker, hit the streets during the midnight hours to follow and film the nightly routine of a “scrapper” ― you may know them as those drifting individuals who push shopping carts filled with metal scraps ― these vagabonds forage around searching for discarded waste, collecting junk with little to no value, in hopes to sell it and turn a profit. The result of Jonathan’s followings is The Scrapper, a 32 minute doc Read More →
I thought I’d share some of the lessons I’ve learned from Oral History (49-3672). Here are 8 ideas to keep in mind for your next documentary interview.Read More →
Photo: Diana Gabriel. Frederick Wiseman has made over 30 full-length documentaries, but says he doesn’t think about his art. He came from a law background and examines institutions across the nation, but says he never does research. The ironies you find in Frederick Wiseman’s films come across when you listenRead More →
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,Read More →
My thesis project, Untitled DREAM Act Film, is transitioning from casual pre-production to real pre-production. What does that mean? It means that it’s time to stop playing around and start working on this film. One way that I thought of to do this was to talk to someone who hasRead More →
It’s often worth watching documentaries that suck in order to learn what not to do as a filmmaker. While watching the 2004 documentary “The End of Suburbia” (available on Netflix but don’t bother) several lessons occurred to me. Here’s my new list of what not to do in my ownRead More →
A wise man once said, “Let us all cool our jets. Let us all take the time out of our busy schedules to watch great documentary films. That is when we find our peace.” For 2009, Viva Doc has put forth extra effort to curate a film schedule built bothRead More →
Chris Marker’s Bullfight in Okinawa is a bizarre, 4 min documentary that introduces viewers to Japan’s subterranean past time of bullfighting. Part of Markers five-film “Bestiary” series, Bullfight employs observational documentary techniques and, in particular, Marker’s camerawork is impressive — tight framed shots, free-hand pans, and quick zooms all contributeRead More →