documentary makers

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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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