In a worldwide context described by some because the Golden Age of documentary and by others because the Corporate Age of documentary, the Marché du Film‘s Cannes Docs sidebar devoted its May 20 speak to the query of a “Universal Values System in Documentary: Dismantling Borders for Greater Equity.”
Moderated by Devika Girish, editor of New York-based Film Comment journal, the high-level panel included Alemberg Ang from Filipino manufacturing home Daluyong Studios; Chinese filmmaker and artist Viv Li; Chicken & Egg Pictures Program Director Kiyoko McCrae; and Adam Piron, director of the Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Program.
Opening the speak, Girish invited panelists to share a documentary they’d describe as a mannequin of moral filmmaking.
For Piron, it was the debut characteristic of American visible artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka, “Malni – Towards the Ocean, Towards the Shore,” an experimental work concerning the origin of the demise fantasy of the Chinookan individuals within the Pacific Northwest.
“Being indigenous myself, the question for me is: whose community are you going into, what access do you have, what can you show or not? It raises so many questions, because Sky is not indigenous to that region. How can we tell our own stories? What’s the protocol?” he requested, opening up the dialog.
Ang cited a movie he not too long ago produced, “Tens Across the Border,” concerning the underground voguing and ballroom scenes in Southeast Asia. “My director wanted our profiles to sign a clause allowing them to pull out of the project any moment they felt their lives were threatened,” he defined.
While she mentioned she was spoiled for alternative, McCrae was eager to plug Chicken & Egg awardee “Your Fat Friend” by Jeanie Finlay, about body-positive blogger, activist and creator Aubrey Gordon. McCrae praised Finlay’s transparency concerning the difficulties of filmmaking and her success in connecting with audiences.
“Jeanie has been very creative about distribution, the way she’s been connecting with audiences all over the UK, the US, and soon all over the world. She’s also been thinking creatively, not just about production but about engaging with the audience: she has been contacting cinemas and asking about their seat sizes to understand whether it’s going to be a safe place for audiences,” mentioned McCrae.
On the query of defining a vocabulary of consent, McCrae highlighted the work of the U.S.-based Documentary Accountability Working Group, devoted to selling care and accountability inside nonfiction filmmaking.
According to her, accountable filmmaking is down to obviously defining the roles all through the filmmaking course of. “It’s not just about a feedback screening. It’s much more than that: it’s about dialogue throughout the process, always going back to check for consent, really defining what your role is together so that you know what you’re looking for in the feedback.”
For Li, whose quick “Across the Waters” is nominated for the quick movie Palme d’Or, the concept is to make the digital camera disappear and be in entrance of the digital camera herself – “I am as vulnerable as the protagonists” – to get the footage she needs. “But I agree that you need to discuss with them afterwards and share with them, it’s a very sensitive stage when you show them your footage,” she mentioned.
In response to the recurring query of a filmmaker’s legitimacy in capturing a group as an outsider, accountable filmmaking is concerning the aptitude for self-reflection, mentioned McCrae.
“We [at Chicken & Egg] do believe that filmmakers who are not from the community can tell stories responsibly. It’s about the investment you make in understanding, the awareness of your own lens and of where the gaps are in your understanding,” she defined.
“That might mean bringing on a producer or a co-director who can identify our shortcomings, finding who we need to lean on for support to educate ourselves, and bringing that awareness to be more ethical and more responsible.”
Wrapping up the speak, the query of potential injury documentaries can do to communities was raised. McCrae concluded: “Documentaries should not inherently good or unhealthy; they’re instruments.
“What’s important is the transparency in your intention: it can be a tool for entertainment, it can be a tool for profit, it can be a tool for social change – it can be so many things, and the danger is in the assumption that we’re doing good work. That has to be interrogated. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”