From one perspective, everyday reality, with its attendant drama, has always been a white-knuckle, stomach-clenching affair where the survival of humankind depends on confronting our mutual problems and working together to resolve them. Amidst this drama, the documentary film offers a means to expose issues, confront problems, and even inspire action, shining light on real-world events, political machinations, environmental issues, and the stories of people dealing with crisis.
Documentaries have also gained mainstream popularity, with works such as Michael Moore’s Sicko, Leonardo DeCaprio’s The 11th Hour, Ken Burns’ The War, and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth reaching millions of viewers.
Perhaps this marks a turn, where the drama of fictional storytelling loses some of its impact in a world where earthshaking events take place daily and where documentary filmmakers have ever widening channels of distribution and viewers.
This month, indieEdge turns a spotlight on three participants in the documentary film scene: Ella Kliger, a novice in the field with a newly released film profiling post-Katrina volunteer workers and survivors in Mississippi; Chuck Bush, a principal in Baton Rouge-based Resurgent Entertainment; and outspoken documentary filmmaker, Robert Greenwald.
Ella Kliger
L-R: DVF President Dr. Irene McIntosh, Ella Kliger, volunteer Judy Sullivan, and DVF Vice-President Dr. Ed Cake clean up Deer Island near Biloxi, Mississippi.
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina left thousands along the Mississippi Gulf Coast homeless. In her first documentary work, The Kindness of Strangers: Katrina Connections, Ella Kliger focuses on the hopefulness and spiritually invigorating nature of rebuilding homes and lives.
How did you identify and contact interview subjects?
Initially, I connected with the non-profit group Mississippi Home Again (MHA) after reading an article in the Boston Phoenix. After interviewing MHA’s co-founder, Annie Card, I spent four days in Mississippi in September 2006 with co-founder Tammy Agard, and from there the network grew.
I found the D'Iberville Volunteers Foundation (DVF) when I was looking for a volunteer camp that would be open during Christmas 2006, and DVF became my home base in January 2007. I met people through the Long Term Recovery Committee meetings, church services, the Mockingbird Coffee Shop, and literally just walking down the street.
Were people anxious to share their experiences?
People were willing to share their stories after I had invested time in the relationship. This disaster is still difficult to talk about for many people. The best interviews came from the people I talked with over the course of months.
It was important to develop that trust, particularly when asking someone to share the worst experience of her life. In those talks, gratefulness for the volunteers came up again and again. Locals were amazed that volunteers would leave their families, friends, and homes to come here to help.
During the course of the project, did workflow go according to plan? Were their unanticipated surprises?
There were many surprises during the past year. First, I was surprised that I would completely fall in love with the people of Mississippi. Originally, the trip in September 2006 was supposed to be the only trip. I was planning to edit in Somerville, MA using resources at Somerville Community Access Television. Once I had been to the Gulf Coast, had seen the devastation and people's desire to rebuild, I had to come back. It was a bigger story than I had originally anticipated. I returned throughout the fall until I moved down after Thanksgiving 2006.
The commitment to home that people feel here is like nothing I have ever experienced. The willingness of out-of-state volunteers to change their lives because of the feeling they get from helping others in inspirational. The volunteers are grateful to the residents for letting them help, for giving them so much.
What lessons did you learn about documentary filmmaking?
I learned that you have to be flexible. You can make a plan, but when circumstances don't work out, be ready to adapt. For example, originally, I overbooked my schedule. People in Mississippi tell stories in beautiful detail and they do it with style. They don't do it quickly. For this fast-talking Northerner, that took some adaptation. The most wonderful thing I learned was that when I was open to the connections that the Universe was providing, doors opened for me.
I also learned that it takes real strength to ask for and accept help. I did not have the money to spend a year here. Thanks to the generosity of people here, I have been able to make it work. I'm deeper in debt than I have ever been in my life, but have never felt richer.
Technically, I learned a lot about filmmaking. This project was filmed in high-definition video using the Sony HDR-FX1. It's a great camera, adaptable to a range of shooting situations. Avid is a versatile editing system with many options to explore. Chuck Bush, the Executive Producer of the film, taught me about the process of moving a film from concept to distribution. I also saw Robert Vaughn, the Head of Operations and Chief Audio Engineer for Resurgent Entertainment, work his magic in postproduction by fixing the audio challenges of filming around construction sites.
How much time did you spend on the Mississippi Gulf Coast conducting interviews? What were your impressions when you arrived?
I spent a year on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. My impressions during my first trip in September 2006 were disbelief and shock. Disbelief that the challenges facing storm survivors were still so great 13 months after the storm. And shock that, considering the scope of the devastation, there was so little information in the news about the Mississippi Coast. Most of the news I had heard was about New Orleans.
During that first trip, I learned that a wall of water, reaching as high as 30 feet, had slammed across 70 miles of Mississippi coastline. The only way I could make sense of it to people back home was to ask them to imagine driving from Boston to Providence and seeing every home, hospital, apartment building, church and school – virtually every structure – demolished or damaged.
Were you personally inspired by the stories of both the victims and the volunteers?
The storm hit the Gulf Coast but it affected people throughout the country and the world. I was moved by the stories I heard of people facing the most difficult tasks imaginable with resolve, determination and good spirits. Volunteering here has improved me far more than I could have imagined. The friendships I have made with survivors and volunteers have enriched my life.
Storm survivors are amazing people. I had expected to find a lot of anger and bitterness. What I found was a generosity of spirit that has profoundly changed my life, realigned my priorities. There is not a widespread sense of victimization here. There is determination to rebuild communities and connections.
Do you have any advice to documentary filmmakers who are considering similar projects?
Be willing to set aside your pre-conceived notions. Be willing to drop your personal space barriers. As interviewers, we expect that the people with whom we talk will be open and vulnerable. I found that the more I was willing to do the same, the better my interviews became.
As a novice, I originally found myself resistant to impose myself on others by asking for help. When I was able to get past that, I found many people happily willing to share the benefits of their experience with me. Chuck Bush has been incredibly supportive of this project. His experience has guided me through the post-production process. His wife's family lived through the storm in Long Beach, MS, and he was a Chaplain in New Orleans right after Katrina. This gave Chuck a unique perspective in addition to the technical skills necessary to finish this film.
Are you planning future documentaries?
My next documentary will further explore some of the themes that have arisen during this year of volunteering.
In addition to their work on documentary films like The Kindness of Strangers, Resurgent Entertainment creates works in many areas of electronic entertainment, including films, television, and music and video game development, with a focus on themes that inspire renewal or revival.
What do you consider the most promising distribution channels for documentary filmmakers?
Cable network television seems to be the most promising distribution channel for documentary filmmakers right now. Cable nets like Discovery, IFC, and others, have carved out a niche for documentaries. However, I believe the Internet is beginning to rival traditional television and cable networks for distribution and is beginning to find a regular audience. Revenue-sharing Internet sites let a producer set his or her terms for placing their product in the market and recouping its investment.
Do you have any tips about finding an audience for a completed documentary?
Know your audience. Documentary filmmakers do what they do out of passion, but passion can become self-indulgence. Make your documentary for others, not yourself. If it fails to resonate with others and it never finds an audience, your pool of investors will dry up and you’ll go back to working Master Control in some UHF TV station.
Another clue is that the process works best in reverse. Talk with a distributor; they know what audiences want and what acquisitions people are buying. Let the distributor give you the audience and you create a project to fit what they want.
Robert Greenwald As an experienced filmmaker with more than 50 credits, including theatrical, cable, and television works, Robert Greenwald conceived his first major documentary, Uncovered: The War On Iraq, while reading the morning newspaper. Motivated by a perceived revisionist slant on the origins of the invasion, he began work on a documentary to investigate alternative explanations for why we went to war, relying on the expertise of CIA staff members and other high-level professionals. Since the release of the work, groundbreaking in how it gained popularity through word-of-mouth, Internet announcements, and home showings organized at the grassroots level, Greenwald has produced a series of politically-oriented documentaries through his company, Brave New Films.
You've become very adept at finding audiences for your work through grassroots techniques and alternative distribution channels. Could you offer some suggestions to independent documentary filmmakers for gaining an audience?
The key is knowing who will be interested in your film. If it is about mothers with motorcycles, you know where to go. If it is stamp collectors who are vegans, you know where to go. In my case, the political nature of the films was helpful in finding the audience. The breakthrough was (and is) using the Internet to make the films available, to build a mailing list, and to have house parties around the country. On Iraq for Sale, we had 7,000 screenings; almost all of them were in schools, churches, homes, union halls, coffee shops, bookstores, and so on.
The Internet is undergoing radical change, and it is your friend. Look at it as a way to reach customers. And stop obsessing about movie theatres.
Much of your recent work seems to stem from a desire to expose mainstream disinformation campaigns and bring truth to light.
We live in very complex times and the issues have never been more consuming and important. The role of the United States is undergoing severe change. The issue of military solutions will be debated. Jobs, healthcare, education… you name it and we are struggling to figure it out. In such a universe, the need for information is greater then ever. In the midst of all of this, non-fiction books and documentaries and short investigative videos are coming into their own.
What advice would you offer the upcoming generation of documentary filmmakers about producing work for niche audiences on narrow-focus topics?
I think the Internet in general is the key to reaching niche audiences. I believe this trend will accelerate and intensify and I encourage every filmmaker to spend time looking around for those who are interested in his subject matter. It is going to be harder if it is fiction film coming-of-age story.
Do you have any general advice or tips for the independent filmmaking community?
Follow what you believe in. Make movies about your passions. And, be very, very aggressive about getting your film out there. Making the film is only part of it – increasingly, your job will be to get it seen.
Print
this page
