^{Lyda in the vault at DuArt}

Last week, LEF Executive Director Lyda Kuth visited DuArt, the film lab and post production house in NYC that has long been the go-to place for generations of American independent filmmakers.

DuArt’s vault contains thousands of film prints and negatives that were at risk of being lost when the company could no longer afford to store them.

Enter Sandra Schulberg, who founded IFP in 1970, and has now turned her attention to cataloging and preserving independent film.

DuArt’s archival crisis lit the fire for Sandra to launch IndieCollect in 2013, in an effort to rescue these prints and to continue building an independent archive and public index of American independent cinema. Lyda is a board member of IndieCollect and looks forward to reporting back on the work of the organization for the New England film community.

Learn more on the IndieCollect website and this New York Times article.

The post IndieCollect: Making Preservation a Priority appeared first on LEF Foundation.

This week, LEF Program Director Sara Archambault shares these thoughts:

We are extremely fortunate in New England to have a wealth of media innovation growing from our region. Much of this activity is centered in Boston at the universities or through start-ups. One such organization making ripples that start here and send waves across the world is AIR – the Association of Independents in Radio. AIR is at the hub of innovative platforms in storytelling for public media throughout the US.

For those of you who are unaware of its work, AIR represents a network of over one thousand independent media producers (audio, multi-platform, public media works) in 29 countries throughout the world. In addition to supporting their core constituency through conferences, mentorships, information, and networking, AIR is inspiring inventive work and collaboration in the public media space. This started in 2010 in their new talent search “Media Quest” that sought to invite new voices into public media (so successful there was an MQ2 a year later! The show SNAP JUDGEMENT is one outcome from this work). This was followed in 2013 by the LOCALORE initiative – an initiative that partnered independent producers with public media organizations in an effort to create sustainable “full spectrum” storytelling (on the air, online, in the streets) connecting stations to their communities in more direct and meaningful ways. LOCALORE resulted in a number of successful projects, some of which continue to this day like BLACK GOLD BOOM, CURIOUS CITY (now Hearken), and iSEECHANGE.

Building on this success, AIR recently announced the collaborators in their newest initiative LOCALORE: FINDING AMERICA. Similar to the last Localore collection, these projects pair gifted independent producers and local public media outlets with a goal of creating new models in storytelling with the ability to draw in audiences new to public media. Please visit this link to learn more about this fantastic collection of fifteen projects about to take off from public media stations across the country.

If this inspires your curiosity, do read AIR Executive Director Sue Schardt’s comments at the gathering of these troops in Boston, getting them ready to go out into the world and create. Sue is a force to be reckoned with, helping to create change across the public media spectrum and taking us all back to Johnson’s 1967 mandate for public broadcasting dedicated “ the enlightenment of all the people.”

In fact, if you’re truly nerdy, like me, you might want to go back and read Johnson’s remarks too – just for fun.

There’s something paradoxical about Lyndon Johnson’s 1967 mandate for a
public broadcasting system bringing “enlightenment to all the people of
the United States.”

– Sara Archambault

The post AIR appeared first on LEF Foundation.

Cameron Bargerstock’s LEF-funded film EXIT MUSIC was selected for Spotlight on Documentaries at IFP’s Independent Film Week, which took place September 20-25. Cameron shares her experience in the LEF Blog this week.

My film Exit Music was selected by IFP for Spotlight on Documentaries, a collection of 50 work in progress films that participate in the Project Forum during Independent Film Week. This was my big chance to escape my little grant-writing cave and make power moves in the big city, face to face with industry players. As a new filmmaker representing my first feature film, this opportunity was a solid immersion into the complex world of producing, financing, finishing, and distributing a film. The Project Forum provides a rare opportunity for independent filmmakers to sit down one on one with industry professionals and discuss a work-in-progress film and strategy for finishing it. It’s not set up like a formal pitch because the industry chooses which projects/filmmakers they want to meet with.

After getting accepted to the event, I provided IFP with succinct written materials about my film, a 20-minute preview, and a 5-minute teaser. Industry representatives can access these materials online and then decide who they want a meeting with. One week before the event, I was sent a final itinerary of my meetings. Over the course of 4 days I had 25 meetings with financers, broadcasters, sales agents, distributors, and programmers like ITVS, POV, Al Jazeera, Chicken and Egg, Cinereach, HBO, BRIT DOCS, Tugg, Gathr, Sundance, South by Southwest, Conde Naste, Preferred Content, and New York Times OpDocs, to name a few.

All the meetings took place in a huge room, speed-dating style. It was an exhilarating chance to practice pitching and get valuable feedback. Each conversation brought forth creative new ideas and important questions that helped hone in my pitch. I came into the event with the intention to make progress toward financing post-production. Overall enthusiasm for Exit Music was strong. But this is what I heard a lot. “When you have a rough cut please send it to me.” This is great news and I’m eager to share it with these inspiring, influential people, but after one year financing the film on my own, money to carry the project through a rough cut is crucial. This is the wild goose chase we independent filmmakers get to solve in unique ways on our own. Regardless, I was forming relationships with people that I can call upon in the future.

I admit I over-analyzed what clothing I would don on this very important threshold into adulthood as a filmmaker and printed way too many postcards I was often too shy to give out, because who actually saves them, but here are my takeaways:

Don’t over-prepare
Performing a canned pitch will cause people to lose focus. They are seeing countless projects and you have to stand out. As #1 expert in my story, I was confident in my ability to present it off the cuff. I approached it less as a formal pitch and more of an opportunity to have a meaningful conversation. I didn’t actually practice a pitch. I had talking points that I could improvise on depending on who I was meeting with and from what point of view they were seeing my film (i.e. distributor, sales agent, programmer, funder). Asking what sparked their interest in my film was often a good starting point. I think my conversational approach made more of an impression in the 30 minutes we had together. You’re not just selling your film. You’re selling yourself.

Passion is infectious
Everyone I spoke with remarked on my passion for the film. They wanted to know why I was the best person to make the film. My film is about one family’s encounter with terminal illness. Many people I met with commented on their own complicated experience with the death of a loved one. I wasn’t shy about my enthusiasm for the project and

Be clear and specific
Have a strong sense of your narrative arc and how the story will unfold on screen. Also, be clear about your timeline and budget. I actually printed a couple copies of my budget and it came in handy a time or two. I actually surprised some with how organized I was.

What are your outreach goals
Be a visionary. What is the best-case scenario. Really think about the impact of the film. Who is the audience? How will they be reached? Who could be partners to spread the message? How will you build a “movement” around the film? These are important questions to answer way before you’re done with the film.

Know what you’re asking for
I was there to find funding, an editor, and to establish relationships for future festival and distribution partners. Be clear on what you need to succeed.

Know who you’re talking to
I researched every person and company I was meeting with.

Everyone asked why I am making the film
Across the board, I was asked why I made this film and my personal connection to the story. It was an opportunity to speak a little about my journey as a filmmaker and how I was led into telling this story.

Ask for feedback
I had nothing to lose. Sometimes I asked at the end of the conversation for critical feedback or aspects of the project that gave them hesitation. This led to interesting conversations about how to set my film apart from others.

Ask for other connections
Many of my meetings led to other recommendations.  I came away with a list of organizations to research, movies to watch, and people to meet. And I made sure to follow through with everyone.

What to bring that’s actually useful
Business cards with your film’s title on it, nicely designed postcards, ipad with trailer ready to watch, and over the ear headphones.

Follow up
I reached back out to everyone that I met with. You never know how they can be useful contacts in the future or who they know.

I didn’t walk away with a fat check in hand to finish my film. But I made incredible connections with people that I hope will lead to collaborations in the near future. My favorite moments were bringing a major programmer to tears (in a positive heartfelt way), getting a second meeting with a potential financer, almost winning at bowling during an afterparty, and making friends with other filmmakers devoted to the craft of storytelling.

—
Cameron Bargerstock is the Director/Producer of EXIT MUSIC.
She can be reached at cbargerstock@gmail.com.
Learn more about EXIT MUSIC here.

EXIT MUSIC Synopsis:

Terminally ill at twenty-seven, offbeat artist Ethan Rice leads his family and doctor through the surreal and stirring decision to die on his own terms. Equal parts comedy and darkness, Exit Music is the last year, last breath, and a letter to the world as a curious young spirit awaits the inevitable and reflects changing perceptions of dying in America.

Photos courtesy Cameron Bargerstock.

Captions (top to bottom): (1) A still image of EXIT MUSIC. (2) The Project Forum meeting room at Lincoln Center. (3) Chatting with my Executive Producer between meetings. (4) New York City skyline. (5) My film postcard (artwork by Mia Nolting). (6) Me with old friends Brian Morrow and Jonathan Lynch, the producers of Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story.

The post Spotlight on Documentaries 2015 appeared first on LEF Foundation.

Over the past month, filmmaker Beth Murphy has been leading an impact campaign for her LEF-funded film WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS. Recently, LEF invited Beth to write about how she has paired her filmmaking with impact. This week, Beth shares her thoughts in the LEF blog.

Since 2009 I’ve had a front-row seat to one of the best stories in the world.  What has unfolded in front of my eyes at the first girls’ school in one small Afghan village has made me laugh, cry…get angry… feel so much pride and hope.

The truth is, I never want this film to end.  And although the film must, the story can’t.  And thanks to the Impact Campaign we launched last month, it won’t.

I think of myself as my film’s first audience member. Don’t we all want to catch that lightning-in-a-bottle moment when the audience sees our film and is inspired to act? But if I—audience member #1—am not moved to action, how can I expect others to be? You might be thinking: Making the film is enough!  Maybe in some cases it is.  But not this one.

Build A School Today Dot Com. That’s the Impact Campaign we launched last month during post-production on What Tomorrow Brings.  Typically, I’d want to wait until a film is released – or at the very least fully funded!– before launching. But we don’t have the luxury of time. The first senior class is about to graduate from high school in November, and there’s nowhere for them to go to college. Razia Jan – founder of the K-12 school—wants to build them a college, and I want to help her.  That’s what this campaign is all about.  I’m excited that the Zabuli Technical College will make history as the first women’s college in any Afghan village, but am even more in awe of these girls and their families, who are so committed to the life-changing power that education brings.

I’ve seen how education can drive change. Girls are learning what it means to become a woman in Afghanistan, how they can use their voice. Illiterate fathers who were wary about sending their daughters to school now express pride that their little girls can help them read letters. Afghanistan desperately needs female teachers and healthcare workers to serve women’s needs. But for me, there’s more to it than that; it’s about having a living demonstration of the power of education to change everything.

The post We Are Our Own First Audience appeared first on LEF Foundation.

Four filmmakers were selected to attend the 61st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar as LEF New England Fellows, including (pictured, L-R) Josh Weissbach, Eric Gulliver, Amahl Bishara, and Colin Brant. The seminar took place from June 13-19, 2015 at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. This week, Eric Gulliver and Josh Weissbach share reflections on their experience.

Eric Gulliver writes:

It had just stormed when I arrived in Hamilton, NY and it smelled of recent rain at The Scent of Places. I’d heard warnings from friends and colleagues to “remember to rest,” and “always sit with somebody new when you eat.” There are so many people to meet, films to see, and discussion to finish, that halfway through the week you realize the impossible task that is the Flaherty Seminar. It is meant to be start of something, a catalyst, and not necessarily conclusive in any way. Here is where Rilke’s dictum to love the questions of your heart, and not just the answers, would be tested. It is then that the “ONWARD!” motto of Flaherty rings true. Just keep watching. Keep talking. And take it with you from there.

The typical day was overflowing, consisting of waking up at 7am, watching approximately 6-8 hours of films, three plus hours of group discussion in some capacity, eating three collective meals, and then continuing conversations over drinks and ultimately dancing until the sun comes up. Flaherty literature describes those who engage in all of this as “die-hards,” a title I was glad to glean in my time as a fellow. I had to carry the torch! The words intense and exhausting are apt when describing the experience, even for a person who functions well on little sleep. Somehow all of it seems needed though; the grueling screening schedule leading to discussion/confusion and releasing it through forged connections and fraternal convivialities. Here is where liking and disliking are fruitful. It’s targeting pressure points and not relenting from them.

To be there among newcomers, Flaherty veterans, and dedicated staff creates a welcoming yet challenging atmosphere. We don’t all use the same terms or know what to expect, and this posed particular difficulties in communication. Then again, Frances Flaherty stressed the goodness in this, that of ‘non-preconception’, which I came to appreciate as the week wore on. You bring your own terms that are redefined. Board Member and former Flaherty programmer Chi-hui Yang described the process of curating as having an ‘architecture,’ which was a perfect descriptor for the endeavor. What helpful contributions the various disciplines can reflect on each other. There is something productive about having 150+ people watch the same films, with all the filmmakers present, and championing each comment from the audience. It is empowering while being slightly off putting (I’m recalling the first time an attendee let the filmmaker on stage know they HATED their film, to which the filmmaker replied “And that is fine”). During the week there is opportunity to make oneself heard both publicly or privately, and this creates a spirited atmosphere.

There was notable absence of documentaries at The Scent of Places, whereas the program was full of experimental/installation art and narrative features. A mystery attendee scrawled “Narrative is safer,” on the screening room chalkboard sometime during the week. Each film in the program spoke to the theme’s implicit suggestion; that films can include subtleties in their minutia. In this sense it doesn’t matter what vehicle we choose to analyze be it conventional, experimental, or otherwise. Indeed, the ‘aren’t we all just representing performances’ debate was settled in one of the first day’s discussions. After multiple conversations, we all realized the vocabulary that included ‘ideological,’ ‘representation,’ and ‘absence,’ was an imperfect syllabus. Therein lies the mission of Laura U. Marks while putting together The Scent of Places. We were all going to have to find other words more suitable, and another path more productive. The we-are-all-in-this-together(ness) of the thesis was problematic in some instances, especially in regards to questions of filmmaker intent and supposed audience. The lack of conversation between installation artists and ‘conventional’ documentarians was remarkable both on the stage and off the stage. Perhaps some are concerned with form more than others. Or some want to see past the frame and not concern themselves with the merits of deconstruction per se. The inclusion of both persuasions though was in perfect Flaherty fashion (as I have come to understand it). Maybe the conversations that happened were because of this –  a guided experiment in detecting unrepresentable potions that manifest themselves somehow on screen.

–

Josh Weissbach writes:

First of all, I just want to say thanks to LEF for this experience at
the 61st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. I would like to attach an
adjective to the word experience in the previous sentence, but which one
do I choose? The possibilities feel and seem endless. Lovely,
wonderful, fantastic, grueling, tedious, exhausting, alien, incoherent,
restorative, extraterrestrial, indescribable, emotional, puzzling,
challenging, searching.

Throughout my week at The Flaherty, I experienced all of these
sentiments and more. And on some level, I think The Flaherty is a game,
or at least it has the feel of being that type of paradigm. What was
Laura U. Marks trying to do with her programming? As the week went on, I
began to settle into the rhythm of her choices when I thought that the
films and videos that were being screened all converged within the
thought that this seminar was about the inability to comprehend. This
conclusion was initially reached while watching Zanj Revolution by Tariq
Teguia. As a singular movie, it felt like it was attempting to map a
cultural landscape that was unable to be mapped. This feeling was
augmented while juxtaposing it to Inland, another one of Tariq Tequia’s
films shown earlier in the week, which partially focused on the physical
mapping of landscapes in Algeria. In this film as well, the act of
mapping failed.

During the last group discussion on the final day of The Flaherty, one
of the other participants spoke to the group about how she saw the week
coalesce into the theme of incoherence. The symmetry that was occurring
between my own thoughts and this other participant’s thoughts made me
feel like there was an unknown and silent acceptance that was
simultaneously happening in our personal reading of the week’s
programming. But how does one work with the inability to comprehend?

When thinking about my own film and video work in the aftermath of The
Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, I do not know yet how the new thoughts and
considerations I both witnessed and individually produced apply to my
own sensibilities. But I can say that it was without a doubt a
generative process for me. For a number of years now I have been working
on a on-going film series entitled The Addresses. This project focuses
on and proposes ways in which to understand the domestic across a
spectrum that includes the intimate at one end and the uncanny at the
other. While at The Flaherty and since my departure, a new set of ideas
and structures have interested me that are now allowing me to consider
both old and new material for The Addresses, whether that material is
appropriated or created on my own.

Lately I have been considering one-point perspective grids, the textual
representation of sound within subtitled movies, small quadrants of the
frame that enhance an image’s “domesticity,” the combination of
geographic and cyborg forms to create a cyborg-ography, and the role of
verisimilitude to mask fiction as fact. These ideas somehow relate to
the failure of the whole and the success of the fragment, which maybe
resides somewhere within the inability to cohere.

–

All images courtesy of Eric Gulliver and Josh Weissbach.

The post Reflections on the 61st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar appeared first on LEF Foundation.

“Who’s involved, what’s the conflict, and what’s the transformation?” Cut to the chase! That was the candid advice we were given by a major funder during a meeting for IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries program at Independent Film Week. We spent five days pitching our LEF-funded documentary THREE DAYS TO SEE throughout New York City, in focused 30-minute industry meetings at beautiful Lincoln Center, at the HBO offices during brunch with their top executives, over loud music at a Chelsea dive bar party hosted by SXSW. We learned that the biggest challenge is communicating simply and powerfully about the story we aim to tell.

We quickly realized that everyone at Independent Film Week had a fascinating story. Building friendships with other filmmakers was one of the best perks of being in such great company. We’d simply reach out our hand and say: “Do you have a film here?” With so many films being made these days (over 400 were submitted to Independent Film Week), IFP selection gave us a new stamp of validation and confidence when we sat down with Sundance, Tribeca, HBO, PBS, and other great distributors, programmers, agents, and funders.

It was thrilling to engage with so many industry players for the first time about our little story of a young woman’s journey to adulthood. Often they would start off a bit removed, but then our excitement would catch on, especially if they watched our trailer. The best meetings transformed from a pitch into a genuine back-and-forth conversation about our characters, themes, and surprising twists. On the first day I spent too much time telling people what I thought they wanted to hear. By the second day I had shortened my pitch, leaving room to read their body language and allow for their own curiosity and insights.

Here are a few hints from our team for your next pitching experience:

• Nail down a solid one minute pitch
• Practice your pitch with other people, but also say it out loud to yourself (that’s normal in NYC!) so it flows and feels natural
• Prepare two or three additional points to elaborate as needed, or to work into the conversation that you feel are important to selling your story
• Don’t try to fit it all in during that initial pitch, wait to gauge their reaction and be prepared to respond, be provocative and incite questions
• LISTEN
• Know your true budget
• Know when you’ll be in picture lock
• Dress to be comfortable and confident, not to impress
• Research their bio, ask questions, and find a common subject to break the ice
• Oh, fight your shyness (easy for me to say), smile a lot, and have fun!

We also got the chance to hear leaders in the film world deliver invaluable keynotes and panels, and rub elbows with them all at the networking after-parties. Every single bit of IFP’s Project Forum is designed to make you a more fully-realized filmmaker. Documentary work can sometimes feel like a lonely, thankless endeavor. After our time at IFP, I know for certain that THREE DAYS TO SEE will reach eager audiences, and I feel a renewed personal mandate to effect change in the world with the power of visual storytelling.

Hope to see you there in future years!

The post LEF Grantees at IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries! appeared first on LEF Foundation.

 ^{(L-R) Beyza Boyacioglu, Warren Cockerham,} Amy Jenkins and Brynmore Williams. Photo Credit: The Flaherty

Four New England filmmakers were selected to attend the 60th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar from June 14-20, 2014 as LEF Fellows. These filmmakers are Beyza Boyacioglu, Warren Cockerham, Amy Jenkins, and Brynmore Williams. The following are reflections from the fellows about their Flaherty Seminar experience: 

^{Photo Credit: Brynmore Williams}

LEF Fellow Brynmore Williams writes: 

Disruption! That about sums up my experience at the Flaherty Seminar.  Disruption of style, disruption of form, disruption of expectations.  Nothing could have prepared me for what I discovered at the Flaherty.  The range of people I met, films we saw and discussions we had left me spellbound and inspired.  But most of all it left me with the burning desire to do it all again.  I realized that one cannot truly judge the experience without a few seminars under your belt, for the experience is not only about what appears on screen but also about the programmers and participants.  Parts of the program this year were really difficult for me.  They challenged my expectations of storytelling and documentary film but it was also amazing how much these dense films became fodder for stirring debate and intellectual rigor.  This experience wasn’t about loving every film or being always entertained, it was about the dialogue that was generated. This dialogue is what kept us all engaged and conscious of our humanity.

Brynmore Williams
http://brynmore.com

^{Photo Credit: Brynmore Williams}

LEF Fellow Amy Jenkins writes: 

Upon hearing of this year’s Flaherty Seminar topic “Turning the Inside Out” I was truly excited.  A Flaherty Fellowship sponsored by LEF enabled me to attend, and it came at a pivotal moment in my work.  After twenty years as a video installation artist, I am actively pursuing a new direction—the experimental documentary.  This year’s topic was precisely the question I, too, have been pondering:  How does the form of presentation affect the notion of “documentary?”  With help from the Film-Summer-Camp called The Flaherty, my seed of curiosity has now exploded into a full garden of possibilities, with enough bounty to carry me fully into Winter.

This year’s topic questioned documentary film’s claim to “truthful” representation, and examined the re-invention and expansion of the documentary form in a number of aspects, including its presentation beyond the single screen and into multiple screens, as well as outside of the theater and into three-dimensionality, along with documentary’s inclusion of staged scenes and theatrical reenactments, anonymous footage mined from the internet, surveillance feeds, and the creation of collective source material by giving laypersons cameras.  There were also moments of non-narrative disruptions of story, fictive stories parading as fact, and open-ended narratives that offered no conclusion.  Many of the films seemed to strive for what Samuel Beckett terms ‘a form that accommodates the mess.’

^{Photo Credit: Amy Jenkins}

Film themes early in the week included socialist idealism, cycles of capitalism, political corruption, and structures of oppression.  The catch-word I heard a number of times was “solidarity.”  Parallels were drawn between cinematic shooting and military warfare.  As my depth of despair for humanity began to overtake me, I was saved by a shift in the final days of the seminar to films that focused on the relationship between humans and nature. Whew, a close call!  While I say this in jest, I acknowledge that it is not the programmer’s aim to please, but rather to incite us to discuss, to argue, and to challenge our experience of the cinematic. And this was the most rewarding part of my Flaherty Fellowship–the interaction with the artists and the participants was truly inspiring and unique.  To spend eight days with over one-hundred film-lovers, twenty hours a day (yes, there was very little sleep, but with assistance from caffeine and alcohol,) while passionately serving, ingesting and digesting the art of documentary film, is the consummate experience called The Flaherty, (aka Summer Camp for Film Lovers.)  I gained enough inspiration to carry me through Winter, but next summer I might just have to return for another film-feast!

Amy Jenkins
July 15, 2014

^{Photo Credit: Amy Jenkins}

LEF Fellow Beyza Boyacioglu writes: 

In her article ‘What’s Wrong with the Liberal Documentary’, renowned filmmaker Jill Godmilow coins the term ‘post-realist documentary’, a form that refrains from pure description, truth claims and satisfying tools but rather “disengages the spectacle from the real in order to produce knowledge.” Reading this article followed by a masterclass with Jill Godmilow was a perfect introduction to the intense 7-day experience at Flaherty Film Seminar. Her ideas hinted us that at Flaherty, we will not enjoy the usual documentary experience where we learn about the lives of “those distressed social actors” and feel satisfied with our passive emotional participation. The program ahead of us required full engagement throughout the week, not one idea was served on a plate and the level of satisfaction was proportionate to one’s willingness to dig deeper and farther in order to make connections within and between the films.

Curated by Gabriela Monroy and Caspar Stracke, this year’s Flaherty Seminar was named ‘Turning The Inside Out’, with a special emphasis on form. The films we saw throughout the week were all quite challenging and required active participation from the audience in the movie theatre while igniting intense discussions at the Q&A’s. The nonhierarchical form of the seminar was also far from the traditional festival/screening environment where audience and filmmakers interact in a formal fashion. The filmmakers blended in the crowd of 170 participants, creating a sense of suspense by keeping us wondering who we are sitting next to. The seminar’s ‘no preconception’ rule restrained us from getting any information on films and googling filmmakers. As the week progressed, curatorial vision of Monroy and Stracke unfolded elegantly, revealing the connections between films they had chosen. My personal favorites were Hito Steyerl, CAMP, Johan Grimonprez and Jill Godmilow. CAMP’s ‘The Neighbor Before The House’ depicts Palestinian families peeping into their invaded homes in Jerusalem, examining the fine line between private and public, personal and political. I drew a connection between the Israeli settlers seeking to create a homogeneous thus ‘safe’ society for themselves and Hito Steyerl’s film ‘How Not To Be Seen. A Fucking Didactic Educational .Mov File’ in which people choose to live in gated communities hoping to blend in enough to disappear completely. Johan Grimonprez’s ‘Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y‘, a hijacking documentary that investigates the depiction of ‘terrorists’ on media 60s onwards was the star of the first night. However it became more precious for me after seeing Steyerl’s ‘November’, a film about her childhood best friend Andrea, who joins Kurdish guerilla in Turkey and becomes a symbol on Kurdish flags after being killed as a terrorist by the Turkish army. Sprinkled evenly throughout the week, Jill Godmilow’s work was a masterclass on documentary filmmaking, advising the filmmakers not to underestimate their audience and reminding the audience that the filmmakers are not obliged to spoonfeed them knowledge. Her question lingered with me: Who am I next to this film? She said, “if this question is not asked, it’s entertainment.” Godmilow’s work refreshed my tired eyes every time, no wonder she was the toast of the seminar this year.

Flaherty Seminar was a truly unique experience. It will take me at least a couple of months to digest the works I saw and to decipher the network of meanings woven by the curators. It was a privilege to take part in such an enriching journey and I will hopefully be back for the 61st Flaherty Film Seminar next year that will be curated by Laura U. Marks and will look closely at Middle Eastern cinema.

^{Photo credit: Brynmore Williams}

LEF Fellow Warren Cockerham writes: 

The Flaherty didn’t disappoint. I’ve known about the Flaherty Film Seminars for about ten years. Two of my undergrad professors at The University of Florida (Roger Beebe and Nora Alter) were the first to tell me about it. Since then, I’ve had many friends and colleagues attend. It’s always been discussed as one of those rites of passage for filmmakers, curators, writers and teachers:  a unique, full-immersion screening and seminar experience that leads to intense group discussions about the cultural function, politics, and aesthetics of “non-fiction” filmmaking.

The theme of this year’s seminar was “Turning the Inside Out,” curated by Gabriela Monroy and Caspar Stracke. In many ways, it was exactly the kind of work that one would expect to encounter at a Flaherty: essay films that border on, blur, and employ fiction filmmaking. The seminar opened with a familiar found-footage 1997 essay classic, Dial H-i-s-t-o-r-y by Johan Grimonprez and was followed by Hito Steyerl’s 2010, In Free Fall. Both pieces explore histories of the commercial airline industry and both are contemporary examples of a free-form non-fiction approach. This initial screening stirred up some critical conversation about the similar subjects of both pieces (commercial airlines) as being a far too didactic approach to the programming.  Although there was a similar sentiment surrounding the “remake” motif in both the pairing of Marker’s and Resnais’ classic, Les statues meurant aussi (1953) in Session 2 with a film inspired by it, Duncan Cambell’s It for Others (2013) in Session 3 and later in the programming the remake classic, Jill Godmilow’s What Farocki Taught (1997), it became clear that the curation was more about form and the evolution of cinematic language and style via modes of mediation.

^{Photo Credit: Brynmore Williams}

This direction became most evident in the inclusion of Jesse McLean’s work. Jesse’s work employs the codes and aesthetics of experimental and avant-garde histories, pop art, experimental ethnography, and the syntax of user-made online selfies.  This hybrid aesthetic approach to moving-image making signifies a shift away from objective Othering that so often happens when filmmakers attempt to create ethnographic films about foreign people, specifically the third world. Instead, Jesse’s work is ethnography of the first world – a world that the maker herself is very familiar with – a world of mediation and fascination with consumerism, material fetishism, fame, and information. The work treats these fascinations not necessarily as evil but as seductive, magical, and even religious fixations. One can certainly see an evolution of early Flaherty artists, Jean Rouch and Bruce Connor as well as more recent Flaherty artists Ben Russell and Deborah Stratman in McLean’s attempt at aesthetisizing American fascination with media as a kind of secular religion via cine-trance and flicker.

I’m not sure what the future holds for the Flaherty or “non-fiction” filmmaking. This year’s programming was complex enough to make me contemplate this future. Is the future of non-fiction filmmaking a series of collected or crowd-sourced recordings of world events? Is it similar to the crowd-sourced, super-cut text on The Arab Spring, The Uprising (2013) made by Peter Snowdon, a fellow at Flaherty this year? Whatever this future is, I’m sure the Flaherty Film Seminars will be a part of it.

^{Photo Credit: The Flaherty}

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^{Participants at the Massachusetts Media Expo. Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Production Coalition}

A few weeks ago, LEF Program Assistant Gen Carmel sat down with David Hartman, Program Director of the Massachusetts Production Coalition (MPC), who shared details on the unique opportunities for Bay State filmmakers that have appeared since the MPC was created in 2005. The coalition works as an advocate to promote film and media production in the state, and as a platform for professional development.

How did the Massachusetts Production Coalition come about?

The MPC was formed in 2005 as a convergence of a couple groups that organized within different sectors of the industry.  MPC became the place where those groups came together to create a broad representation from pretty much every aspect of film and media production.  As far as I am aware, it is unique among other states for the level of collaboration that exists here.

Who does the MPC serve?

We are a really big tent, and serve everyone working in or touched by film, television, or commercial production in all of its forms.  In terms of our programming we strive to create opportunities and do things that appeal to the greater ecology of film and media enterprise. That’s definitely a challenge sometimes. We produce quarterly industry meetings, six seminars or workshop events, an annual expo, and some other one-off kinds of events within a single year. Between all of that you work to find places to be relevant to the interests of everyone.

What’s been the MPC’s greatest accomplishment to date?

Functioning as an industry representative to have the state’s film tax incentive legislation passed and remain effective is an achievement a lot of people associate the organization with. It was a cause that everyone in the field was able to get behind and unify to work towards. That program is in many ways the most essential piece of what has really made Massachusetts a competitive place to do business and sustain a career in the industry.

How does the MPC advocate for the film and media industry in Massachusetts? 

Over the years, MPC has worked with numerous industry groups and institutions to produce reports and consistent communications that describe the kind of economic activity film and media production contributes to the state, and where it can grow. Informing our representatives of our industry’s impact and the unique qualities it offers is an ongoing process.  So there’s a constant regeneration of data and information that we need to synthesize to create a snapshot of how things are working, and where they can grow.  Also promoting Massachusetts as a place to do business and where our industry thrives enriches the cultural life of the state.

How do filmmakers benefit from the tax incentive?

For filmmakers and producers, one of the strongest qualities of our state’s program is that is has a very accessible threshold for a project to become eligible for an incentive, so the entry point based a project’s budget or spending is very reasonable.  This makes it much more feasible to consider producing here as an independent filmmaker.

What do the MPC meetings attempt to do?

Our quarterly meetings create opportunities for members of the industry to connect and be informed. About 200 individuals attend each meeting. Networking is in many ways a function that MPC meetings serve best, and creating a place for the kind of interaction that happens at our events is really unique. We do four member meetings per year at different venues, whether it’s a location in town that’s supporting the film industry, a theatre or hotel; or company headquarters or studio.

The format is pretty consistent: we’ll have an hour and a half cocktail reception, so as people are leaving work they can filter in, then we do an hour and a half of presentations, which are diverse – it could be a topic that relates to a trend in the industry, locally produced projects, or a business or new product that we want to feature. We try doing themes from time to time, but it seems to attract a more diverse audience and the kind of interaction we hope to facilitate if we are open-minded and flexible.

The MPC also organizes the Massachusetts Media Expo. Could you tell me more?

The Media Expo is a really unique program, and last year’s event at WGBH was the first year we produced this. The Expo, like many of our programs, is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and that support has helped make the level of programming we are doing truly possible.

The Expo started out as an idea for creating a really large annual event that brought everyone together into the same space for a day – and the first year was kind of an experiment. There wasn’t really a precedent for having a large-scale trade show here of any kind for our industry, but thankfully everyone participated and we were fortunate to have over 50 film and media entities get involved as exhibitors. It was pretty remarkable. We had numerous programs throughout the day – a keynote panel of renowned producers, a couple of panels on different topics; one with a terrific independent filmmaker, another with local casting agencies, and then we had a really unique film premiere and panel at night. It was attended by over 600 individuals over the course of the entire day.

What does the MPC seminar series offer for participants?

The seminar series is a strong professional development series and is evolving – the first year we tackled production from beginning to end, so we had six throughout the year, and each one guided people through a different phase of production with a panel of creators from different genres of film and media making.

Last year we made it more topical to address themes that people wanted to explore further. From a distribution angle for example, people really wanted to talk about social media and how to self-market their work and themselves, so we focused solely on that for one seminar, and branded entertainment for another. We did a seminar on composition, because people were really interested in exploring audio further – so we had a panel of really great composers, like John Kusiak for example, who does terrific work in both documentary and commercial productions.

This year we’re broadening the scope of what we do with the seminars and some are more workforce development focused. We did one in April on camera dynamics and expanded it into a half-day event with both aesthetic and technical components. For that seminar, there was a really good panel of cinematographers and DPs that explored camera movement in their work and the kinds of tools that they use to create a shot through movement, and we were fortunate to have a lot of gear and equipment for hands-on demonstrations with the experts from High Output and Rule Boston Camera.

We’re also beginning a program that hasn’t been done here in a while which is a Production Assistant (PA) training program, so it will be a real primer on how to begin working on feature film and commercial productions.

How can local freelancers tap into new Hollywood opportunities in the state?

In many respects it really is still a word of mouth industry – you find the people who are working in the areas you want to be involved in and you just keep talking to them until you find a place in it. There is a service called Central Booking that books for crews, but generally speaking its still very much a person to person field, and you have to be very proactive – you have to find the people you want to work with, and that’s one of the things MPC does really well – we’re inclusive, so if people are starting out, coming to our events is a great way to make connections with the people you want to reach.

Do you have any thoughts for documentary filmmakers in particular?

I think the interests of independent filmmakers align really well with the greater business community we see growing here because independent filmmakers are essentially entrepreneurs – they have to be. Whether you look at each film that they do as a business in itself or the collective production that they do, they have every reason to be involved with a creative and business community that supports it.  Through MPC we’ve seen a number of independent documentary filmmakers connect with different resources and businesses, whether it’s for feedback on something or connecting with people about getting involved in a project. A lot of businesses will make their services as accessible as possible for producers to get their projects made – they want to see good work happen, and they want to see it come from here.

What are the benefits of MPC membership?

It’s two things essentially – it’s an opportunity to be part of the community by having a point of contact with people and a place to connect with people from every aspect of the industry, and it’s supporting the initiatives that MPC develops to keep the industry growing here.

What’s in store for this year at the MPC?

Our seminars started up recently – we have a PA Workshop on May 10th, and then another seminar in June on the business of freelancing as a career. For that one, we’ll bring a lot of terrific people together to discuss how they navigate in a freelance workforce. Then we’ll have the Expo and more seminars in the fall. Our next MPC Meeting is on May 19th at Red Sky Studios in Boston.  We have two more of those to look forward to this year, so I think I’ve got my work cut out for me. Connecting people – and helping them find opportunities, that’s really half of the job.

For more information about MPC programming and membership levels, please visit massprodcoalition.org.

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Lyda Kuth, the Executive Director of LEF New England, attended on Saturday and Sunday, and we were both excited to participate in this festival just a stone’s throw from Boston, which engages a stellar base of Salem festival-goers in addition to filmmakers from across the country in special screenings, premieres, and a variety of filmmaker discussion forums. The festival will run until Thursday March 13, so if you haven’t had a chance to attend yet, don’t miss the last few days! An added plus is that all of the festival venues are walking distance from the Salem commuter rail station.

A free filmmaker forum led by moderator Jennifer Merin, with visiting filmmakers (L-R) Tracy Droz Tragos, Michael Kleiman, Suzan Beraza, and Lukas Korver.

LEF-funded filmmakers have been out in full force at this year’s festival. Most notably, LEF grantee Cozette Carroll Russell will attend the East Coast premiere of her film BROOKFORD ALMANAC on Thursday, March 13 at 5:15PM. The film captures a year in the lives of two young, first-generation organic dairy farmers. Details about the event can be found here.

LEF filmmakers also made an appearance at a filmmaker forum called “Coming Soon… DOC-A-CHUSETTS”, a sneak peek at a selection of works by Massachusetts filmmakers, with brief filmmaker Q&A moderated by Loren King from the Boston Globe. Samples of a number of LEF-funded works were screened, including BLACK MEMORABILIA (Chico Colvard), FARM AND RED MOON (Audrey Kali and David Tamés), THE GUYS NEXT DOOR (Allie Humenuk), JOURNEY TO ARMENIA/SCARS OF SILENCE (Nubar and Abby Alexanian), WANDER WONDER WILDERNESS (Paul Turano), and WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS (Kevin Belli and Beth Murphy). The full list of new works can be found here.

Live music before the start of URANIUM DRIVE-IN

Finally, one unique aspect of the festival was Salem Sketches, a program of short films (made by local filmmakers) selected to show individually before each feature. Each short offers a glimpse of life in the town of Salem, from a buzzing local diner with devoted clientele, to a busy shoe repair shop that doubles as a play-land for the owner’s cat, to the inner workings of the nearest sewage treatment facility. This is the second year of the Salem Sketches program, after it was premiered by SFF co-founder Joe Cultrera and SFF organizer Perry Hallinan in 2013. I only saw three of this year’s sixteen sketches, which I’m hoping might be available to watch in full online later (please clue me in if they are). You can read more about Salem Sketches and see the trailer on the SFF blog, and see a few more at the festival while it’s still on.

For full festival details, visit salemfilmfest.com

-Gen

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_{The Lincoln Center (Photo Credit: Marie-Emmanuelle Hartness)}

IFP Independent Film Week – What a positive experience! Michel [Negroponte] and I were thrilled to attend 2013’s session with our production THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MICHELLE MAREN.

There were really three major steps leading to the market: 1) apply, 2) get selected, 3) prepare! And there was a lot of preparation! We had a new deadline every other week over the summer: filling out files, uploading cuts, setting up our schedule, and  the most difficult of all – creating a twenty-minute cut of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MICHELLE MAREN.

Upon arrival at the Lincoln Center subway stop, the first persons I luckily ran into were Michel Negroponte (my collaborator) and LEF’s Lyda Kuth (and her heartwarming smile).  It was a very good sign; the upcoming week was promising already!

Meetings with Industry people went smoothly, Michel and I had a set schedule and documents to support our pitch. I had my computer, the trailer of the film available and—very important—comfortable headphones. All meetings were held in a tight room, tables very close to each other so; no –one could hear the sound of the trailer without headphones. We also had a one-sheet presentation of the film as well as postcards, including photo, film title, contact info and micro screening date.

The micro screening was a presentation of our twenty-minute cut in a room with a large flat screen. There were thirty seats and we were pleased to fill out twenty-five of them. We were at IFP to find funding and distribution possibilities, so I would not say that the micro screening had as an important impact as the industry and distributor meetings on the tenth floor!  But it was nice to have Lyda Kuth, filmmaker Lucia Small and friends discover a cut of our film. Michelle Maren herself came to the screening, it was the first time she was able to watch part of the film with an audience. She was thrilled.

The following two days were all about meeting with broadcasters, more producers, and foundations. We had interesting meetings with places like Al Jazeera America, HBO, POV, Women Makes Movies (women are the majority on our team!), Chicken and Egg, and many more.  After this full roster of meetings, I felt privileged. IFP was making my life much easier: it would be very complicated to meet all these influential people separately (if ever!) and thanks to IFP and Milton Tabbot, we were all here to meet and discuss possible collaborations.

The last day—Thursday—was what we Filmmakers, called “Speed-dating with programmers”. Again, we had a set schedule (IFP did a great job and the volunteers were extremely helpful, bravo and thank you to them!) but meeting time was reduced to ten minutes! In ten-minute meetings, programmers had to present their festivals and filmmakers pitch their films.  Volunteers were walking around the tables lifting their hand; five, four, three, two, one, switch tables! Michel and I teamed well together, it was good to have an accomplice to pitch the project with!

It was fantastic to be part of a selected portion of the most influential parties in today’s Documentary creation. The next step is to follow up with our contacts and see where our film travels next!

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^{Camden, Maine}

Before I began working for the LEF Foundation, I worked for two years with independent film festivals in China as a translator, moderator, program coordinator, and programmer. I learned to consider the presence of plainclothes police officers, mysterious power outages, impromptu venue-changes, and festival cancellations as fairly normal – all in a day’s work for independent festival organizers. 2012 was a particularly tough year for the independent festival circuit in China.

One of the programs that I was most excited about was a film and cultural festival which sought to bring a series of Chinese, American, and Japanese documentary films to a small town in China. The festival team spent many months of hard work preparing for the event and preparing Chinese subtitles for each of the foreign films. Sadly, the festival was abruptly cancelled only days before the event. With special guests already on the ground, the festival organizers did what they could to have the show go on in some small capacity, but the audience was very limited. Why was it cancelled? Perhaps because it was an alternative event, unsanctioned by the state. Truthfully, it remains a mystery even to the organizers, but the end result prevented folks from enjoying a great community event together. You can probably imagine how frustrating this might be for everyone involved, and how, in the long run, these restrictions and repeated cancellations can and do hamper the potential of any independent festival to reach their fullest potential as a critical point of contact for new filmmakers, new audiences, and industry.

Fast forward: Two weeks have passed since the LEF team made our way north to the Camden International Film Festival, which took place on one gorgeous fall weekend in Camden, Maine from September 26-29, and I’m still riding high from the experience. Only in its 9th year and already rated one of the top 25 film festivals in the world, Camden’s tagline is “Small Towns, Big Films”. While attracting national and international participants and supporters, the festival also mobilizes a strong corps of local volunteers and engages audiences of all kinds, from filmmakers and film industry professionals to local and visiting cinephiles, young and old. Camden is a great example of what a passionate festival team and a vibrant film-going community can build in just a few years, when allowed to get creative and grow. I appreciated my time in Camden so much more because of this. The Camden experience is what every film community deserves in a film festival.

^{JP Sniadecki pitching his film RAINBOW FARM at the Points North Pitch}

Attending as an industry delegate, but also as the new kid (I joined LEF in August), I was able to sit in on a number of discussions and events tailored to the industry side of the festival, while also seeing a good portion of the film program, a celebration of documentary at the very heart of the festival.

The festival’s opening film, which screened in the beautiful Camden Opera House, was CUTIE AND THE BOXER, Zachary Heinzerling’s playful study of the romantic and creative relationship between Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. The two artists have spent 40 years building a life together within New York City’s art world, and Heinzerling’s verite tribute reveals the emotional and artistic journey that Noriko has made from her feeling of being eclipsed and consumed by her husband’s career to a sense of spirited independence as she brings to life the narrative of her inner heroine-artist, defending her creative subjectivity.  During the post-screening discussion, Heinzerling recalled that he had spent so much time with Ushio and Noriko that he eventually came to be treated like a piece of the furniture in their home – not an uncommon experience for many documentary filmmakers, except that in Heinzerling’s case, Noriko would even affectionately refer to him as a household appliance, like the vacuum cleaner or rice cooker.

The festival’s opening night party under the lofty eaves of the Brewster Point Barn set a precedent for the other special evening events to come later on that weekend. I missed out on the tire swing and teepee set-up at the Friday night party, but the same industrial harbor side venue was transformed by the Camden team for the penultimate night of the festival, when those not on the dance floor could walk through tunnels of fishnet and dreamlike moving images. Most everyone I spoke with about the festival’s parties told me that Camden’s venues for special events never fail to surprise, and for many industry participants, these events form a crucial thread in the social fabric of the festival. However, while some partygoers devotedly stayed up into the wee hours every night, I wanted to get up early to see some film!

Camden’s Shorts First program was held every morning from Friday to Sunday at the Bayview Street Cinema, a theater located just steps away from Camden’s harbor. Camden’s founder and director Ben Fowlie started the program as a way to get people into the theater early on in the day to appreciate and discuss the value of short-form cinematic storytelling, which too often takes a backseat to feature-length films at many festivals. I was able to attend most of the first morning of shorts, a skillfully programmed selection which at times challenged its audience to make unexpected connections among stories and settings that initially seemed vastly different. After the first few films, I felt as if the entire theater had just gone over the first steep drop, and was gearing up for the next twist.

My favorite short of the morning was FLO (by Riley Hooper) about a long-term New York City resident and avant garde photographer who develops Multiple Sclerosis. As she loses control of her body, she continues to take photographs of the city around her by handing the camera over to her home health assistants, and directing them as they walk (or as Flo rolls) through the sights of the city.

^{Sara Archambault moderating From Story to Action, a Points North panel discussion on impact producing}

Sean Flynn, the director of the Points North Documentary Forum, has done a terrific job in crafting the program’s line-up of panel discussions, master classes, pitch sessions, and more. The first event of the forum that I attended was a panel discussion called From Story to Action, which LEF Program Director Sara Archambault moderated. The discussion focused on the strategies and challenges of impact producing with a fantastic panel of impact-oriented industry professionals and filmmakers, including LEF grantees Banker White (THE GENIUS OF MARIAN) and Rebecca Richman Cohen (WAR DON DON, CODE OF THE WEST), as well as Sheila Leddy (The Fledgling Fund), Christie Marchese (Picture Motion), and Molly Murphy (Working Films).

The Points North Pitch and the New York Times Op-Docs Pitch were perhaps the two festival events I found most exciting. If you’re a filmmaker who has never attended a pitch event before, I can’t imagine a better, faster, or more intensive way to get top-notch feedback on a work-in-progress (Read more about Sara’s experience pitching at Hot Docs for her advice). PROJECT NODAK (Lewis Wilcox and Jonah Sargent), the only film pitched at both the Points North Pitch and the New York Times Op-Docs Pitch, won the latter of the two competitions, and the filmmakers were awarded an opportunity to create a short for the Op-Docs website with a budget of $2,000. Drew Xanthpoulos’ THE SENSITIVES, about ordinary people swept out of the mainstream by mysterious and toxic reactions to everyday stimuli, won the Points North Pitch Award and Modulus Finishing Fund the day before.

_{THE GENIUS OF MARIAN winning the festival’s top award (Photo Credit: Camden International Film Festival)}

As for other festival awards, two of my favorite feature-length films at the festival also garnered prizes. First, The Harrell Award for Best Documentary Feature was given to Banker White and Anna Fitch for THE GENIUS OF MARIAN, which was funded by LEF in 2011. Second, Dave Carroll and Ryan Scafuro’s film BENDING STEEL, about modern day strongman Chris Schoeck, won the Emerging Cinematic Vision Award. Several of the other films I was fortunate to have seen that weekend included AJ Schnack’s CAUCUS, Bassam Tariq and Omar Mullick’s THESE BIRDS WALK, and Ben Nabors’ WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL (which also screened at the DocYard earlier this year).

During the festival, there were many moments when I wished I could have been in two places at once, but alas, a festival program as rich and busy as Camden’s is bound to leave everyone wanting more – all the more reason to mark your calendars for next year. This small town festival is bound to keep on flourishing.

The post Gen’s Thoughts on Camden: A Festival Experience for Everyone appeared first on LEF Foundation.

This summer, in addition to receiving a grant from the Sundance Doc Fund, STREET FIGHTING MAN director Andrew James and editor Jason Tippet attended the Story & Edit Lab. That Lab was focused exclusively on the form, structure, and evolving narrative of the story. (Special shout-out to our other producer Katie Tibaldi who is in the field in Detroit with Andrew right now as I type, gathering the last footage we need to finish the film; much of it we determined we needed at the Lab!). The role of a Story Lab seems quite clear. But what does one learn at a “Creative Producing Lab”? I had my own expectations and lucky for me they were exceeded at every turn.

The Creative Producing Lab was an intensive 5-day series of workshops, meetings, and what I can only call “industry demystifications” focused on the art of producing a successful independent film. On the documentary side of the mountain, there were 7 fellows representing 5 films, a small cadre of mentors and the peerless Sundance staff lead by the indefatigable and inspirational Cara Mertes overseeing her last lab before shoving off to run the Just Films Initiative at the Ford Foundation. Through intimate and honest (sometimes painfully so) conversations with mentors and staff, we fellows strengthened our core knowledge about the multiple skill sets required of producers. To name just a few: financing, messaging, grant writing, festival strategy, contracts, budgets, distribution, publicity, team building, people managing, outreach dreaming, pitching and, of course, at the very core of it all – the instincts to know what makes a story work best.

In addition to understanding the demands of our chosen profession more vividly, we also had the benefit of project-specific feedback through sessions like a rough cut screening of your work in progress. For me, it was the first time I had shared footage from the film with anyone outside of our own team – I felt weirdly exposed, but it was a fantastic opportunity to talk through the challenges that lie ahead for us in completing the project with a group of experienced professionals who only want to see us succeed. There were also one-on-one meetings arranged with mentors, where each fellow received direct feedback on strategies to improve and gain traction for the project.

The Summit was a very different, but equally valuable experience. A departure from the intimate tone of the lab, the Summit still maintained a “summer camp” feeling of camaraderie. The Summit brought a total of 42 projects, both narrative and documentary, to discuss the state of the field, strengthen their producing chops, and pitch their films to industry leaders. These were meetings you would need a major market to get otherwise, creating great exposure for this group of films already blessed by the Sundance seal of approval.

But apart from all of the skills-building and networking, a crucial piece to this weekend was an examination of the role a producer plays on a project, a celebration of the creativity required of producers, and a call to seed the field with more able talent.

One plenary session, in particular, called on all of us – industry leaders, fellows, and Summit attendees, to name the one word we most associate with producing and why. Here are some thoughts from that group sharing (this was not around a campfire, but it could have been) that resonated with me:

• CONNECT – Producers fill the tent. They bring creative teams, business interests and eager audiences together. They make sure all the skills, knowledge and tools necessary for a successful project are assembled in service of the director’s vision.

• FAIL – Don’t be afraid to fail! Every failure you experience is another arrow in your quiver, and could be crucial to the success of your next film.

• DO – When in doubt, act. There are countless moments of fear, anxiety, and stress in the creation of a film. Producers motivate and move forward. Inaction is their enemy. Gather the intelligence, trust your gut, and jump!

• INNOVATE – The film industry is changing faster than we can easily assess it. This is a time to try new things. The opportunities for getting your film in front of new audiences have never been more plentiful. Forge your own path.

• IMPROVISE – You won’t always have the answers, so be sure to trust your instincts. Every new challenge is a creative opportunity for problem-solving.

• INSPIRE – Your team doesn’t just rely on you as a task-master and traction-maker, sometimes they need a cheerleader. These projects can often take a long time and encounter massive roadblocks along the way. A producer needs to keep the team together, protect the creative space, and help the team achieve their best potential.

• MAKE IT RAIN (okay, not one word) – The producer is often the engine that makes a production go. The rain could be money, talent, or connections, but rain it must!

This is just a small snapshot from that one unforgettable week in the Wasatch Mountains. One of the most powerful takeaways for me was feeling the true power of effective mentorship. I know that I have taken it to heart and hope to provide that same level of open, caring guidance to others along the way. In that spirit, thank you to the generous mentors: Julie Goldman (producer), Bonni Cohen (filmmaker), Josh Braun (sales agent), and David Magdael (publicist). Your gifts continue to give!

Thank you to my fearless peers: Rachel Learns and Robin Blotnick (The Hand That Feeds – http://thehandthatfeedsfilm.com/), Hillevi Loven and Chris Talbot (Radical Love – https://www.facebook.com/RadicalLoveTheFilm), Chai Vasarhelyi (An African Spring – https://goodpitch.org/films/an-african-spring), and Carola Fuentes (Chicago Boys – http://chicagoboys.cl/?page_id=19). I already miss you and will be cheering you on!

Thank you to the Sundance Institute and its incredible staff from Executive Director Keri Putnam to all the drivers and chefs.

And finally, thank you to the Sundance Doc Fund staff – Cara Mertes, Rhadi Taylor, Kristin Feeley, Richard Perez, Bruni Burres, Wendy Levy, Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Jean Shin, Velissa Robinson and John Cardellino – you have changed our film and changed my life, and I am eternally grateful.

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