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As the
Tribeca Film Festival wraps up its 6th year this weekend its clear that as it expands throughout the city confusion mounts within the industry on what it actually is – a venue for high profile films or discovering new talent (I’ll go into greater detail about this in my Festival Wrap-Up in the Summer issue). But having attended every year there’s one thing I’m always impressed by: the documentaries. And this year is no exception.
Two that I’ve enjoyed equally but are completely different in tone and style are
Alex Gibney’s
Taxi to the Dark Side and
Bruce Broder’s
Chops, both of which are making their World Premieres at the fest.
In
Taxi, Gibney uses the same investigative style which garnered him an Oscar-nomination for
Enron: the Smartest Guys In The Room as he examines the torture methods the U.S. military has used on detainees during the Iraq war, specifically at the prisons in Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The main focus is on the murder of one detainee, a taxi driver named Dilawar (pictured above), who was accused of being the getaway driver for a terrorist act but was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the film Gibney peals away the layers of inferiority by interviewing the unqualified interrogators who were at the prisons (they say they were only following orders), along with showing never-before-seen images from inside the prisons which make the pervious stills we’ve seen from Abu Ghraib look tame. Gibney also interviews a former detainee at Bagram and GITMO. But as chilling as what was done in the prisons, what’s more horrific is seeing the blatant disregard of the Geneva Conventions by the Bush Administration.
The only thing that may hurt
Taxi's chances for distribution is with the slew of war docs that have already come out in the past 3-4 years, audiences may be a little burnt out.
On a lighter note is
Chops, a doc that follows a Jacksonville, Florida high school jazz band as they prepare to compete at the annual event: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s
Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. Comparisons could be made to
Spellbound or
Wordplay as director Bruce Broder follows the gifted students of the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts as they practice for the competition. But what’s different is it not only shows their talents but how feeding off on another’s abilities makes them create unbelievable music.
Broder also briefly highlights two schools in Seattle who always do well at
Essentially Ellington to create an underdog story, but the real draw is the music. Close your eyes and you couldn’t tell teenagers are playing the instruments. A must see for fans of jazz.
Comments (3)
Jeevika: South Asia Documentary Festival, which began in 2003, aims at capturing the livelihood challenges faced by the rural and urban poor and bringing it to the attention of current and future policy makers. Over the years, Jeevika has been successful in advocating for the cause of numerous entry-level entrepreneurs - rickshaw pullers, street vendors, prostitutes, child labour, farmers and forest-dwellers.
The premier event of the festival to be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi will be the awards ceremony from 20-23rd July 2007, which will culminate four days of screening for the top films. The last date for the submitting the entries is May 31, 2007
In addition as part of the festival tour, the award-winning films will travel and be screened in premier schools and colleges in over 20 states in India and other organisations working on livelihood issues as well as in our South Asian neighbours.
Over the years, Jeevika has become an increasingly popular and news-worthy event as well as an important catalyst for positive social change. The Film-makers whose films have been showcased in the past include Rakesh Sharma (of the Final Solution fame), Sanjay Barnela (Turf Wars) and Shohini Ghosh (Tales of the Night Fairies).
For further details, please log on : www.ccs.in/jeevika
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posted by @ 5/02/2007 2:13 AM
how can I get my screenplay read?
http://paradisevalleymontana.blogspot.com/
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posted by Mark Anthony Given @ 5/07/2007 5:04 PM
Inviting Documentary
FILMS For SOCIAL CHANGE
Zoom in on a mode of living…
Give a voice to people’s struggles and triumphs…
Defend the basic human right of freedom to livelihood…
Economic Freedom
Capture social -cultural norms, legal - regulatory barriers that prevent people working in the vocation of their choice and send us.
ENTRY CLOSING ON: JULY 15, 2008
Prizes : Worth Rs. 2 lakhs
(Including support for advocacy campaign based on the film)
Apply now: www.jeevika.org or www.ccs.in
Entry Rules:
- Two DVD copies.
- Open to ALL filmmakers (student, amateur & professionals).
- Any language with English subtitles.
- No cut off date on entries.
Jeevika, a South Asian documentary film festival on the issue of livelihood, is a search for documentaries that focus on legal and regulatory restrictions as well as socio - cultural norms and religious practices that prevent or constrain people from earning an honest livelihood in the vocation of their choice. It is a part of an attempt to bring policies in focus which have not been liberalized and keeping entry level professions under License Raj, thus keeping a nation under imposed poverty. Livelihood is a common issue that touches all other issues including poverty human rights, governance, labour welfare, tribal rights, minority rights, women empowerment, health, globalization, privatization, environment, agriculture, hunger and many more.
For further details please contact:
Mr. Manoj Mathew
Phone: 91.11.2653.7456 (10am-6pm IST)
Log on: http://www.ccs.in/jeevika/index.html
Email: jeevika@ccs.in
CENTRE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
K-36 Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi 110016, India
Phone: 91-11-2653 7456/ 2652 1882/ 2651 2347;
Web: www.ccs.in
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posted by Jeevika: South Asia Documentary Festival @ 6/10/2008 7:50 AM
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