Defining Gravity

Defining Gravity

When you hear the word parkour your mind might leap to that hilarious skit in “The Office”, or the insane building jumps in any Bond-cum-Bourne type film. But put your preconceptions aside for a moment and consider what it might be like for a woman to participate in this most macho of extreme activities.

Enter Jo, Mandy and Christie. Three women who push themselves to their physical and psychological limits – and learn just where those limits lie.

Marley

The Bob Marley music doc simply titled “Marley,” enjoying two Special Presentation screenings at this year’s Hot Docs, is one heck of an excellent music doc. It accesses all the family members close to Marley, his wife, children, distant relatives, who speak candidly about “Robert.” The film travels to the lush, mountainous village of his childhood to the streets of Trench Town. It contains footage from his years in London, his travels on European and American tours, to his trip to Africa. The film recounts Bob’s relationship with Rastafarianism, touches on his infamous virility (12 children by 7 women), and illustrates the politics and social movements of his time which injured him with bullets and tear-gas, and left him shaken. Despite this, he never gave up “music for the people.”

Though the film hears from his band-mates and musical colleagues, what this documentary thankfully avoids is a bunch of contemporary musicians extolling his virtues ad nauseum. Bob Marley’s musical talent and innovation clearly has left a lasting mark on our culture, and in my heart particularly. I certainly don’t need to be told of his talent. When music documentaries resort to this “filler” I am always tempted to tune-out.

“Marley” is a gorgeous, interesting, wholistic journey about a fascinating man and his soulful music. It will probably come to be known as the difinitive Bob Marley film.

For more about the film: http://www.bobmarley.com/

For Hot Docs screeening times: http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/marley

Saving Face

A film about women disfigured by acid attacks is not usually something I want to unwind to at the end of a long, stressful day. But when I spotted this year’s Oscar award-winning short documentary on HBO Canada’s on demand list, I decided to give it a peek, thinking, if it gets to be too much I will turn it off, no guilty feelings.

Though “Saving Face” angered me and disturbed me with its vicious acts – most often perpetrated by the husbands of these women for the most absurdly imagined transgressions – the film engaged me to the end for two main reasons:

– it didn’t dwell on the misery – in fact, the women were bravely coming together to make lasting legal reform, and

– the doctor character at the centre of the film, Dr Mohammed Jawad, had such spark, humour and compassion that I really enjoyed his presence on screen

The tone of the film was therefore less activist and more sharing. Unlike many “cause” films, this one embraced me and encouraged my compassion instead of forcing me to pick sides and get angry. I promptly suggested a plastic surgeon friend of mine to consider contributing his talents to this cause.

And Now For Something Crazy Beautiful

Yesterday’s Genie Awards celebrated a short documentary that I just had to share. “Sirmilik,” a ten-minute meditation on Canada’s national park in Nunavut, is a stunning feat of poetry by director Zacharias Kunuk of “Atnarjuat” fame. The short is part of a larger documentary/cross-media exploit “National Parks Project” that itself is well worth exploring.

Take a few minutes right now to allow yourself to be entranced by the images and incredible music of “Sirmilik.” A hearty congratulations to Kunuk.

Under Fire: Journalists in Combat

It sure seems like a romantic and exciting endeavour, but covering war has got to be more than tough I’ve always thought. Living with a photojournalist, I can feel the psychological effects of death and destruction radiating from this human who has witnessed violence and experienced the aftermath of war. But nothing my husband Joseph Wenkoff  has seen, compares to the atrocities recorded by the journalists in this compelling documentary that was short-listed for an Academy Award this year.

“Under Fire: Journalists in Combat” is Toronto-based Martyn Burke’s film on war reporting that features some of the Western world’s best-known reporters, videographers and photographers. It recounts, briefly, the history of war reporting (how it’s become an increasingly lethal profession – two more journalists were killed in Syria last week) and also delves into the psychological trauma that results from witnessing the worst human violence.

How do they cope? One way has been to abuse alcohol as John Steele, author of “War Junkie” recounts. “And that’s why you drink – because if you drink enough, you can’t remember your dreams.” Whether these journalists accept that they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or not, they are each on their own journey of either self-distruction or healing from the truama of being “prophets.” CBC’s Susan Ormiston and BBC’s Christina Lamb credit their families from keeping them whole. Conversely, Toronto Star photographer Paul Watson, who captured the iconic picture of a dead US soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, admits that though he has a loving wife and son, would still have taken his own life during his darkest moments had he only had access to a gun.

Admissions like his, and that of Chris Hedges who likens the adrenalinalized addiction of war-reporting to a ravaging drug dependence, are the heart and soul of this documentary which pretty much takes all of the machismo out of the profession of covering war.

Luckily, Toronto psychiatrist Anthony Feinstein offers 24-hour emergency service to journalists like photographer Finbarr O’Reilly who has suffered from disassociative feelings upon returning back to the war-free world.

The insights these men and women learn about humanity are nothing that you and I will know. And although I am grateful that they tell the story of suffering, that’s probably for the best. I’ll leave the Kurtz’ to their hearts of darkness. And as for my husband, thankfully his life is fulfilled with a new baby on the way and the adrenaline pull of conflict is under wraps. For now.

“Under Fire: Journalists Under Fire” is airing tonight on CBC’s digital documentary channel. Click here for more.

Concrete Circus

Parkour Star - Courtesy of CBC "The Passionate Eye"

Wow, wow, wow. The urban atheletes of “Concrete Circus” blow my mind even more than Olympians. This documentary follows 4 urban extreme sports viral-video stars as they emabark on making 4 new videos for their on-line audience (which, by the way, surpasses over 40 million viewers between the 4 of them.)

I tell ya, these boys heat me up. If you can’t watch the full documentary (available for free to Canadian audiences courtesy of CBC’s The Passionate Eye) then at least watch the four short films these guys ended up making (just scroll down a wee ways for the 4 links.)

They will make you gasp, smile and wonder at the beauty, artisty and grace of humanity.

Story Corps

One of the benefits of working at the CBC are the training sessions that we are invited to participate in from time to time.  Today’s CBC’s English Services Training session called “The Best of the World” brought together the most innovative programming from this year’s INPUT (INternational PUblic Tv) conference. I was able to attend the day’s “lunch and learn” session which featured a talk and Q&A from animation director Mike Rauch.

Mike and his brother Tim have animated a small number of short radio documentaries using the audio recordings from some of the 70,000 collected for  Story Corps – a brilliant NPR initiative to collect American oral history by inviting participants to share their personal family stories.

The Rauch brothers selected a handful of some of the more poignant stories to animate, which became a whole new opportunity to share these stories across platforms. On average about 2 minutes each, the shorts are surprisingly moving, funny and above all, resonant.

Rauch mentioned that in the selection process, he was not only looking for good stories, but more importantly, characters who could translate vividly from voice to image.

This Valentines Day, consider sharing the Story Corps animated documentary Danny & Annie with your significant other (and others for that matter.)

TVO’s Doc Studio Website Packs It In

I am very impressed with TVO’s new Doc Studio website. Which is ironic because I used to complain vociferously about their uninformative previous site. This new hub blends information: air-dates, links to featured docs, docs in production – which is really a neat inside peek, a featured filmmaker profile – along with full documentaries that you can watch online.

My first viewing pick was the much touted 2-part series “Raw Opium.” The documentary blended intelligently the life of poppy crop farmers in Afghanistan with the life of heroin addicts of the streets of Vancouver. It inspired me to start writing my own story about the marijuana industry and sub-culture in Canada.

If you visit their site, don’t forget to check out the doc studio filmmaking contest. The winning filmmaker gets:

• A mentoring session (of up to eight hours total) with Genie award-winning filmmaker Alan Zweig;
• A television broadcast of your short documentary on TVO, tvo.org and TVO’s YouTube Channel;
• A Hot Docs 2012 industry pass (approximate retail value of $500.00).

Filmmakers – also check out the site’s blog for industry information.

INPUT 2012 Canadian Call for Entries

INPUT is now accepting entries for the 2012 conference in Sydney, Australia May 7-12. INPUT isn’t a competition or festival. It is an international conference that aims “to celebrate and encourage the development of public service television.”

 INPUT is looking for innovative, courageous and provocative programmes from all TV genres – programmes that show fresh ways of catering to new audiences, destined for public television.

*Please note, as you consider whether to submit, that if your program is selected you must send someone to present it. Funding from INPUT for Canadian productions is very rare so it is also advisable to consider how you would pay for your representative to attend.

 DEADLINE: Please note the deadline for Canadian selections is Friday November 18, 2011.

DVDs and copies of the online entry forms should be sent to:

Ilka de Laat at CBC Toronto in room 5A300-A of the Broadcast Centre, no later than Friday, November 18, 2011.

(See below for the full shipping address).

 Submitting a production for INPUT means to submit a filled out submission form found at http://www.input-tv.org/news/submit/ with two DVD copies of the production and accepting the following 10 conditions and rules that apply:

 1. Productions produced or broadcast after January 1, 2010 are eligible. It is not essential that the programme has already been broadcast, but it must be clear that programmes have been produced for television. 

2. Productions submitted to the conference may not include any commercial advertising.

3. A co-production will be regarded as the submission of whichever organization submits it.

4. All co-production partners must be named on the submission form. It will be presumed by INPUT and the conference host that the other co-producers have agreed to the programme being submitted.

5. All productions screened at INPUT will be presented by a Key Staff member such as the Director, Author, Commissioning Editor or Producer. The submitting company is responsible to bear all registration and traveling costs to and from the conference for this staff member. A production will not be screened unless a presenter for each production is present during the conference.

6. The conference host and/or INPUT shall have the right to release stills and excerpts of up to 3 minutes from any submission for screening free of charge by TV stations reporting on the conference or for use in the internet or other media.

7. All graphic material sent in by the entrants is released free of charge for use in all publications about the conference (Press, Printed material, Internet etc.).

8. Freight, customs and insurance costs for the shipment of entries and accompanying material shall be borne by the submitter.

9. INPUT will keep the all submitted material (DVDs, DigiBeta cassettes, press material) of all submissions and all productions screened during the conference for use in the INPUT archive.

10. INPUT may use all productions screened during the annual conference strictly for non-profit and educational events such as Mini-INPUT, Best of INPUT, Post INPUT etc. The screening of the submitted production – in full or in part – shall not occur until the organizers of such INPUT events have informed the submitters beforehand about their intention to use the production at such an event.

 Thank you for participating,

   Jim Williamson

   Canadian Coordinator (English) INPUT

   jim.williamson@cbc.ca

 Send submissions to:

 Shipping Address:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

205 Wellington St. West, Room 5A300-A

Toronto, Ontario

M5V 3G7

Tel: 1.416.205.8646

Attention: Ilka de Laat (that’s me)

Blood in the Mobile

Danish filmmaker, Frank Piasecki Poulsen, has a Nokia cell phone and has heard that there may be conflict minerals in his phone. When Nokia refuses to acknowledge his request for a transparent supply chain, he goes to the Congo to visit the mines. The documentary is gripping at times because even though the Congo has the highest concentration of UN troops, the UN refuses to chaperone the filmmaker as he visits one of the largest mines in Bisie. The mine is currently controlled by a militia, the 85th Brigade which has gone rogue from the DRC military. Between 15,000 and 25,000 people live at the mine, valued at approximately $70 billion US. The shafts are improvised and highly dangerous. The filmmaker takes us down into the shaft accompanied by a minor. The 85th Brigade tax the workers so heavily that they become indentured servants – essentially slaves. There is no medial care, clean water, nor proper housing. 

 

Poulsen then delved into the history of Nokia, which remarkably has a colonial history in the Congo – the corporation started as a rubber boot company and bought rubber from King Leopold’s rubber slave colonies. Today Nokia is one of the biggest corporations in the world. They claim they are leaders in social responsibility. The filmmaker visits scientists in Germany who claim they can “fingerprint” the source of minerals directly to specific mines, thus no cellphone company can claim that they can’t know the source of the minerals. Poulsen then returns to Nokia to confront the company, however he makes no headway with them in his attempt to achieve a transparent supply chain.

 

This is today’s “blood diamond” story. I found it a brave film. What I don’t know is how much corporations like Nokia have been doing lately to assure that their products are conflict-mineral free. I doubt they have come along very far since the film was made in 2010. For more on the film or how to contribute to the cause, please visit the official website here.