documentary

33. Sabaah Folayan: Everything Is Practice /  by Elaine Sheldon

Sabaah Folayan is an activist and storyteller who illuminates the humanity, resilience and beauty in the struggle of communities as they mobilize and fight for justice. She merged her dedication to human rights and a newfound passion for film with Whose Streets?, a feature documentary chronicling the experience of Ferguson community members after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Sabaah and her co-director Damon Davis are premiering Whose Streets? at Sundance 2017, but this episode’s conversation took place in October of 2015, when Sabaah was still in the depths of production and stepped away to pitch the film at Camden International Film Festival’s Points North Forum in Maine. We talk with Sabaah about moving to Ferguson, working to understand the complexities of the situation amongst a sea of sensational headlines, the unique education she had between living off the land in Hawaii and living in divergent Los Angeles neighborhoods, and the forever valuable lesson she learned as a basketball player, “Everything you do is practice for the next time you do it.” The music in this episode is off Velvet and Bone, a new album by a past MusicMaker, Stag Hare.

sabaah.jpg
 

MUSIC in this episode is off a new album titled Velvet and Bone by past She Does MusicMaker and friend, Stag Hare. Willow (formerly Zara) is the MusicMaker behind Stag Hare and was featured in Episode 22.5. Listen to and buy her music via Bandcamp and visit her website and Facebook.

“Space has been so privatized. We’ve been so socialized to be individuals and be on our own and our lives are our own little bubbles. I think that it was such a relief for people to just lock arms and say that ‘I’m feeling this too.’”

Related LINKS:

 

 

 

 

 

CLIPS used in show: 

CREDITS:

  • Produced by Sarah Ginsburg & Elaine Sheldon
  • Sound design by Billy Wirasnik
  • Illustration by Christine Cover

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28. Iva Radivojevic: Entering A Different State /  by Elaine Sheldon

Iva Radivojevic is a documentary director and editor. She was born in Yugoslavia, raised in Cyprus and has lived in New York City since she was 18 years old. Much of her work explores belonging, and draws from poetry and personal experience. Her debut feature, "Evaporating Borders," examines migration, tolerance and identity through the experience of asylum seekers in Cyprus. The film has received awards worldwide and was nominated for an International Documentary Association (IDA) Award and a Cinema Eye Honors Spotlight Award and screened over 80 times at festivals, including SXSW, Human Rights Watch FF, Rotterdam IFF, DokuFest and HotDocs. Iva is the recipient of the 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and was named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film of 2013 by Filmmaker Magazine. In this episode Iva talks about her series "IvaAsks" where she learned how to make films, her draw to poetry, working as an editor, her new film inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ “Aleph,” and the things she does (writing, exercising, meditating) to keep her life calm and collected.

Name: Iva Radivojevic

Current Town: Brooklyn

What are you listening to now? Nana Vasconcelos, Toto la Momposina, Connan Mockasin

What film/book/show/piece of media changed you? Here are a few things that left a permanent imprint:
Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things" and consequently most of her work.
Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad"
Ilya Khrzhanovsky's film "4"
"For an imperfect cinema" an essay by Julio Garcia Espinosa
"What's wrong with the liberal documentary" an essay by Jill Godmilow

Who is your career role model? There are so many people. I also find myself lucky to know many brilliant, creative and intuitive minds, not only filmmakers, but also musicians, poets, painters, runners, activists etc. and so I steal a little wisdom from each, from all directions and blend it to what works for me. 

What is a tool you can't live without? Pen and paper (MUJI), Camera, Music

How do you drink your coffee/tea? Tea! (Caffeine makes me crazy)

“Poetry speaks volumes and it digs and penetrates much deeper than if I was to do something in a purely journalistic way and disseminate information. I don’t want to throw stuff in your face or bang you over the head with information. I really love the written word and I like how that matches up, or doesn’t match up with images and how they can dance together or repel each other. ”
— Iva Radivojevic

23. Mo Scarpelli and Alexandria Bombach: Co-Directing One Vision /  by Elaine Sheldon

Mo Scarpelli and Alexandria Bombach are documentary filmmakers and co-directors of award-winning film "Frame by Frame.” The documentary follows four Afghan photojournalists as they face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own after decades of war and rule under the oppressive Taliban regime. The film had its world premiere at SXSW 2015, has screened over 50 times, garnered several awards, was voted one of the Top 10 Audience Favorites at Hot Docs Film Festival, and is nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award for Spotlight Doc. Right now, Mo and Alexandria are knee-deep in an Academy Award campaign for the film. “Frame by Frame” is opening for a week-long run in New York on Nov 20 at the IFC Center.

Mo and Alexandria are extremely self-sufficient women and filmmakers-- both having worked alone on most of their film projects before this one. They both started their own film companies and both have carved out their own niches; Mo in the documentary and journalism world and Alexandria in the outdoor filmmaking world.

In this episode, we talk about how they came to the medium of film, reporting international stories, filming in Afghanistan, their dedication to stunning cinematography, earning the trust of your subjects, the responsibility and weight of releasing stories into the world, holding onto empathy, the perils of co-directing, how to reconnect with relationships after disconnecting to make a film, and how to maintain belonging and community when living out of a suitcase.

Name: Mo Scarpelli

Current Location: Portland, OR

Current Gig: Director & Producer at Rake Films

What are you listening to now? "I'm Here Now" by Motopony // Podcasts: SheDoes & On Being :)

What film/book/show/piece of media changed you? 

Zack Canepari & Drea Cooper's "California Is A Place" showed me how independent doc shorts for online were possible, and also that they could be quirky, stylized and emotionally resonant. This, along with MediaStorm's short multimedia pieces, opened my world to that wonderful blurry space between film + journalism on the web.

Jason Tippet's "Only The Young" showed me how cinematography in doc can rival that of narrative features, and tell a human story.

Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" showed me how a Director's manipulation can morph a simple situation into a riveting and revealing story.

Joan Didion's essays - her tone, her boldness, her levity - has always informed the way I look at the world.

George Orwell's essays also have been an influence for me since I first picked up "All Art is Propaganda." I don't know if I realized at the time that what drew--and continues to draw--me to essays is how they can be like cinema verite; meandering and observing and leaving so much up to the reader to interpret what the writer has experienced.
 

Who is your career role model? I have three. My mom, Joan Didion, Margaret Bourke-White. I should have a filmmaker on here, I know...I'm still learning the doc film world and have met a ton of people in the past couple years who deserve admiration. Hard to name just a few, so I'll stick with the oldies.  

What is a tool you can't live without? Black notepad + pen. I'm naked without it.

How do you drink/take your coffee/tea? With a splash of soy or almond milk 

RELATED LINKS:

Alexandria (left) Mo (right)

Alexandria (left) Mo (right)

“Both Mo and I get uncomfortable when shoots are too organized—or if people work with a union and they stop at a certain time—that would just blow our minds. I think we’re used to and thrive in chaotic environments.”
— Alexandria Bombach

Name: Alexandria Bombach

Current Location: On The Road

Current Gig: Red Reel

What are you listening to now? Broken Social Scene, "Sweetest Kill"

What film/book/show/piece of media changed you? Too many to list. Right now it's the film "Bitter Lake" & the book "No god but God"

Who is your career role model? Ava DuVernay & Lucy Walker  

What is a tool you can't live without? YELP. I live on the road and never know the best spot for a quick bite or a place to set up and work - YELP hasn't failed me yet. 

How do you drink/take your coffee/tea? French Press coffee with honey

RELATED LINKS:

Julianna Barwick

Julianna Barwick

CREDITS:

  • Produced by Elaine Sheldon & Sarah Ginsburg
  • Sound design by Billy Wirasnik
  • Illustration by Christine Cover

MUSIC BY: Julianna Barwick

Listen, Purchase, Connect

Tracks featured in show: Vow, The Harbinger, Adventurer of the family, Vow (Diplo & Lunice remix), Prizewinning, Envelop, White Flag, One Half, Crystal Lake

19. Stacy Kranitz: I Play A Little With Fire /  by Elaine Sheldon

Stacy Kranitz is a documentary photographer who explores history, representation and otherness. She has developed her style, one that is full of movement, emotionally raw, gritty and features individuals in their environments. These individuals are sometimes new subjects, and other times her longtime friends; folks she has been documenting since she started her work in Appalachia in 2009. Stacy’s photos are sometimes bloody, many times violent, often sexualized, occasionally drug-induced, and always causing a stir. She has documented people and places all around the world, including snake handlers in Appalachia, cockfighting in Louisiana and black metal bands in Norway. Her work has been featured in VICE, New York Times Magazine, CNN, Mother Jones, TIME and Oxford American, among others. She also just completed her first feature documentary, “From the Study on Post-Pubescent Manhood.” In this episode, Stacy talks about facing criticism, the dishonesty of photojournalism, documenting violent situations, living out of her car, and blurring the lines between photographer and subject.

Related Links:

Stacy's Instagram

Stacy's Work:

 "As It Was Given To Me" (Appalachia work)

"The Crevasse Of The Reich" (Nazi Reenactors)

Skatopia (TIME)

"Life In Appalachia. Regression to the Mean" (CNN)

"Sausage Castle" (VICE)

Black Metal Bands in Norway (Revolver)

Cockfights in Louisiana

Interview with Stacy (ISSUE Magazine)

Trailer for Stacy's feature doc, "From the Study on Post Pubescent Manhood"

“I don’t like being yelled at. I don’t like having a subject tell me that I treated them poorly, or I misrepresented them. That is difficult. But I can’t make this work without knowing that that’s going to be part of it. Even if the conversation goes against me and is not in favor of what I’m doing, it’s still part of the greater good of what I want from the project.”
— Stacy Kranitz

Name: Stacy Kranitz

Current City: Los Angeles

What are you listening to now? Diana Ross, Reach out I'll Be There

What film/book/show/piece of media changed you? 

  • Trihn T Min-Ha's film Reassemblage
  • George Gittoes's film The Miscreants of Taliwood
  • Elizabeth Barret's film Stranger With a Camera
  • Walid Raad's Atlas Project
  • Martha Rosler's writings on Documentary photography
  • Boris Mikhlov's book of photographs, Case History
  • Ed Templeton's Zines Teenagers Kissing and Teenagers Smoking
  • Carrie Mae Weems The Kitchen Table series
  • Peter Matthiessen's novel Shadow Country

Who is your career role model? Leni Riefenstahl. Rather than seek out a simple role model who fits a classic heroine profile, I am intrigued by the complex story of a woman I both love and hate. In Riefenstahl, I find a multidimensional character with a focused vision and a murky set of morals. These grey areas speak to my desire to understand people beyond the constraints of good versus evil. 

What is a tool you can't live without? Dresses with flowers on them

How do you take your coffee/tea? iced coffee, with a little bit of cream

What's your spirit animal? All the alligator's that live in Lake Martin, Louisiana

Updates? I'll be in Central Appalachia this summer working on my project As it Was Give(n) To Me. In October this project will be shown in Wales as part of the Diffusion photography festival. I just finished my first feature length documentary film, From the Study on Post-Pubescent Manhood.

CREDITS:

Produced by Elaine Sheldon & Sarah Ginsburg

Sound design by Billy Wirasnik

Illustration by Christine Cover

 

MUSIC by Dirty Dishes (meet Jenny next week!)

  • Dinner Bell
  • Sugar Plum Fairies
  • Guilty
  • Lackluster
  • Dan Cortez

CLIPS FEATURED IN SHOW:

Skatopia (trailer)

11. Kat Cizek: Making Everything From Scratch /  by Elaine Sheldon

Kat Cizek is an innovative documentary storyteller who works across many media platforms. She’s currently the director of the National Film Board of Canada’s multi-year project entitled HIGHRISE, which examines life inside residential skyscrapers in suburbs around the world. Since it launched in 2009, HIGHRISE has generated interactive documentaries, mobile productions, live presentations, installations and films that have garnered Emmys, a Peabody, Webby Awards and recognition from the World Press Photo and IDFA Doc Lab, among others. Kat and the NFB just released the latest and final HIGHRISE project, “Universe Within,” that explores people’s digital lives online. We spoke to Kat about her life growing up in Waterloo in the late 60’s  after her parents escaped the Russian invasion of what was then Czechoslovakia. Kat talks about being at the frontlines of the Oka Crisis in Canada, a defining moment in her career and first-nations history in Canada. And her nearly 11 year relationship with the National Film Board of Canada through the Filmmaker in Residence and Highrise projects. Kat encourages us to explore new and meaningful ways to approach technology, and challenges us to evaluate our methods and ethics as storytellers.

“I have been preoccupied with the role of the subject for most of my working life. It’s about understanding that a subject isn’t a subject. A subject is an agent in their own world and how can we work together to create interesting media that will contribute positively in this community. Too often we get so enamored with the technology that we forget about that.”
— Kat Cizek

Name: Katerina Cizek

Current City: Toronto, Canada

DOB: 10/19/1969

What are you listening to now? Tanya Tagaq Animism

What film changed you? Opened your eyes? Vertov's silent film 'Man With a Movie Camera" (1929) The first great example of the power of the edit. It's documentary plus. About the city, about the camera, about the street. about revolution. I love Cinematic Orchestra's live re-scoring of it too.

Who is your career role model? Alanis Obomsawin. I first saw her behind the barricades in 1990, when the Canadian Army had surrounded the First Nations community of Kanesatake. I was there as a student photojournalist, she was there with her camera crew, shooting her masterpiece documentary series about the crisis. Seeing her there inspired me to become a documentarian. Years later, I made a short digital documentary piece and a short film about her. 

What is a tool you can't live without? Long Johns--I'm Canadian.

How do you take your coffee/tea? Tea. Black.

What's your spirit animal? Owl

CLIPS FEATURED IN SHOW:

Russia Invades Czechoslovakia

Leonard Cohen "Suzanne"

Seeing Is Believing

Challenge for Change NFB (1 & 2)

Filmmaker In Residence NFB

HIGHRISE: Out My Window

HIGHRISE: One Millionth Tower

HIGHRISE: A Short History of the Highrise 

HIGHRISE: Universe Within

Večerníček (Czech Animation)

CREDITS

PRODUCED by Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg

SOUND DESIGN by Billy Wirasnik

MUSIC FEATURED IN SHOW: Our featured musicmaker this week is Audrey Ryan. Download her music on Bandcamp. Read our interview with her here.

Let's Go To The Vamp (album)

  • Oh The Ego
  • Snibber
  • Holding Back

Sirens (album)

  • Casiotone
  • Lift Me Up

I Know, I Know (album)

  • Are You Sleeping
  • Alright
  • I know I know
  • So Afraid
  • Maybe

Dishes & Pills (album)

  • People

8. Hanna Polak: Either You Fall, Or You Ride /  by Elaine Sheldon

Hanna Polak, a Polish director and producer, has the stamina and guts that most filmmakers would envy. And now audiences at film festivals around the world are experiencing her dedication through “Something Better To Come,” a documentary that Hanna shot over the span of 14 years. The documentary follows the lives of Russians living in a massive garbage dump, located 12 miles from the center of Moscow. Hanna filmed many people living in the garbage dump, but one person in particular stood out: a young girl named Yula. We watch Yula grow up on-screen, experimenting with hair dye and makeup, foraging for food and shelter, as well as witnessing some firsts: trying her chances with alcohol, cigarettes and young love. Hanna previously directed the short film, “The Children of Leningradsky,” which explores the lives of homeless children living in Moscow train stations. The film received an Oscar nomination, an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary, two Emmy nominations, and the Gracie Allen Award, given by Women in Radio and Television. But there are many moments when Hanna puts down her camera and serves as an activist. In 1997, as part of her work in Russia, she founded and later collaborated with Active Child Aid to help support the children of Russia and in 2006 she was awarded the prestigious Golden Heart Award. Hanna shares the challenges of shooting and editing a film for 14 years, as well as a special memory with documentary pioneer, Ricky Leacock. Doc fans: this episode is not to be missed.

“It’s like having a huge puzzle. Because after 14 years you have hundreds of hours of material, some big some small, and you have no idea where they fit. You don’t have the final picture. You don’t know what you’re building. And out of all of these materials you can make many pictures, but you try to make THE one. ”
— Hanna Polak on editing "Something Better to Come"

RELATED LINKS

Hanna's Website

"Something Better to Come" Film Website

"Something Better to Come" on Facebook 

NY Times Article on "The Children of Leningradsky"

Unicef Award for "The Children of Leningradsky"

 

Name: Hanna Polak

City: Warsaw, Poland

DOB: 7/21/1967

What are you listening to now? "So Close" by Ólafur Arnalds.

What piece of media changed you? Crime and Punishment

Who is your career role model? Vadim Yusov, Director of Photography of Andrei Tarkovsky

What is a tool you can't live without? Avid editing system

How do you drink/take your coffee/tea? Ginger tea with lemon

What's your spirit animal? Haven't discovered yet

MUSICMAKER FEATURED IN SHOW:

Taryn Blake Miller (Your Friend) from Jekyll / Hyde EP.

Featured Songs:

  • Bangs
  • Pallet
  • Peach
  • Tame One
  • Jekyll / Hyde
  • Expectation / Reality

This interview was conducted at True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. Hanna's feature documentary "Something Better to Come" had it's US Premiere at True/False AND our featured MusicMaker, Taryn Blake Miller of Your Friend was a musical busker. Find more information on films, music, dates, and passes at the True/False website. 

CLIPS FEATURED IN SHOW:

Soundbites from “Something Better to Come”

Soundbites from  “The Children of Leningradsky”

Isaac Stern Plays Schon Rosmarin at the age of 79

 

CREDITS

PRODUCED by Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg

SOUND DESIGN by Billy Wirasnik

7. Ingrid Kopp: A Treasure Hunt Around The Web /  by Elaine Sheldon

Ingrid Kopp has been exploring the highest peaks and lowest valleys of independent film for the past 15 years and for the past 6 years has been island hopping to discover intersections between storytelling, social media and technology. As the Director of Interactive at the Tribeca Film Institute, Ingrid supports interactive and cross-platform projects through the TFI New Media Fund and TAA Interactive Prototype Fund. She is the creator of Tribeca Hacks, TFI Interactive and the curator of Storyscapes at the Tribeca Film Festival. All of these spaces invite story, tech and design into the same room to foster conversations and collaborations. In this episode of She Does, Ingrid talks about growing up in South Africa during apartheid, the balance between offline and online communities, lack of diversity in technology and curation, and her dreams to write a book and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro--at the same time.

“In order to get where we want to go, which is creating really amazing pieces of work for audiences everywhere, you need to have diverse production teams and diverse audiences. It makes the work better.”
— Ingrid Kopp

RELATED LINKS

Google Hangout with Lina (ep 6) & Ingrid (ep 7) on April 10 at 3 PM (EST) 

Storyscapes lineup (April 16 – 19): 

TFI Interactive day (April 18)

Ingrid on Twitter 

Ingrid on IndieWire 

Ingrid’s Interactive Playlist

Tribeca Sandbox (resources) 

Name: Ingrid Kopp

Current City: Brooklyn, NY

DOB: 1973

What's on your current playlist? 

Podcasts: StartUp, Invisibilia, Desert Island Discs, Start The Week. I love BBC Radio 4 podcasts, a sign of my age perhaps. 

Music: Billy Bragg, Miriam Makeba and Just A Band.

What piece(s) of media changed you?

Films: Divorce Iranian Style by Kim Longinotto; The Leader, The Driver and The Driver's Wife by Nick Broomfield; Moonstruck by Norman Jewison.

Books: All the RE:Search books but especially Angry Women and Angry Women in Rock. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Also, all Shakespeare plays. 

Shows: Every show I went to at Gilman in Berkeley 1995/96. Sonic Boom: The Art of Sound, a show at the Hayward Gallery in London in 2000 got me excited about installations.

Who are your career role models? Debra Zimmerman, from Women Make Movies; Jess Search, from BRITDOC; and Peter Dale from Rare Day. Peter was my first boss in media and an incredible mentor, supporter and all round good person.

What tool(s) can't you live without? My iPhone, a huge bag with a book or two in it, Moleskine notebooks and a good pen.

How do you drink your coffee/tea?  Strong coffee. I have been known to order quad lattes which I think are actually a heart risk!

Spirit animal? Goat. I love goats, and by the way, I loved goats before the Internet loved goats.

MUSIC FEATURED IN SHOW:

  • Zebrat - A Childish World, Imagination

  • Podington Bear - Button Mushrooms, Formant, Resonant Ducs, Rainbow Architecture, Infant

  • Ketsa - Shiny Clouds

CREDITS

PRODUCED by Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg

SOUND DESIGN by Billy Wirasnik

CLIPS FEATURED IN SHOW:

4. Debra Granik: How to Skin a Squirrel /  by Elaine Sheldon

Debra Granik is the Academy-award nominated director and writer of Winter’s Bone, which features a young Jennifer Lawrence in a gripping story set in the Ozarks. Winter's Bone won several awards including the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It also received four 2011 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Previously, she wrote and directed Down to the Bone, starring Vera Farmiga. Her narrative work is heavily influenced by real life and real people. So it makes sense that recently Debra has found herself exploring the non-fiction world. She recently released Stray Dog, a contemplative portrait of Ron 'Stray Dog' Hall: biker, Vietnam Vet, and lover of small dogs. It has screened over 60 times around the world and was nominated for a 2015 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. In this episode, Debra talks about learning her craft from politically-active women in the 1970s, being inspired by real life, where ideas come from, how stories take seed, and the ins and outs of her many productions. Debra reflects on her past, present, and the future of the industry.

Name: Debra Granik

Current City: New York City

What are you listening to? I listen to a lot of soothing nature sounds. I take refuge in a track called 8 hours of rivers and streams. I am enjoying the music of Kelsey Morris and their band Layperson Music.

What piece of media changed you? There have been so many it's hard to pick one. Most recently, the narrative feature, Girlhood, directed by Céline Sciamma. Fergus Bordewich's book, Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. And We Come as Friends by Hubert Super. Many recent documentaries, especially about the experiences of soldiers and the sprawling topic of mass incarceration and the US prison system.

Who is your career role model? I have a special affection and admiration for essay filmmakers and documentarians, film creators who follow their interests and inspirations, those who try not to define their self worth as artists only through external achievement, but also try to make the making be a worthwhile part of their life.

What is a tool you can't live without? Spongy flip flops, viscous hand cream, luscious 0.7 vicuna ballpoint pens, notebooks.

How do you drink/take your coffee/tea? XXX with a little soy. Branching into hemp.

What's your spirit animal? Tortoise. Slow and steady. 

RELATED LINKS

Debra on Directing Jennifer Lawrence and Her New Documentary (VULTURE)

Debra Granik Archive (INDIE WIRE)

Debra’s Granik Featured In Opinion Sunday (NEW YORK TIMES)

Debra Granik on Finding J. Law and the Plight of the Female Director (DAILY BEAST)

 

“There’s no space for that old style of the big barking orders coming from the big man. The big man who gets special treatment and has an entourage and special gear, special food, special limos, special chairs, special megaphones. I think we’re done with that paradigm. It’s okay to thank people. It’s good and right and just to acknowledge the work of others. I think women do a good job saying ‘I am not the king. I am a head coordinator and I’m working really hard with other people who all are contributing something to this effort.’”
— Debra Granik

CREDITS

PRODUCED by Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg

SOUND DESIGN by Billy Wirasnik

MUSIC FEATURED IN SHOW:

Peachpit and our featured MusicMaker, Hannah Waxman

Chris Zabriskie

Jahzzar

Gillicuddy

CLIPS FEATURED IN SHOW:

Women’s rights protests (1 & 2)

High school play (Phantom of the Opera)

Harlan County, USA (full film)

Winter’s Bone (Clips 1, 2, & 3)

Stray Dog (trailer)