Suggested Resources
1.
Judith Barry’s
work, Cairo Stories, as an example of
an innovative artistic installation giving voice to the stories of Egyptian
women from Cairo.
2.
Shirin Neshat’s
work to stimulate some ideas of how I can further incorporate graphics into my
Iran doc. Her film, Women without Men,
about the 1953 British-American backed coup in Iran.
3.
The documentary
work of AIB MFA graduate Rinat Harel where she has a conversation with her
mother, an Egged bus driver in Israel, about the constant threat of being blown
up.
4.
The work of Mona
Hatoum, a video and installation artist of Palestinian origin.
5.
The works of
Arab-Muslim women living in the West, Zineb Sedira and Ghada Amer, and Jewish
women artists who deal with Palestinian issues.
6.
The artwork of
Shimon Attie, a photographer and installation artist who has explored the
relationship between place, memory and identity.
7.
Christian Boltanski
as an example of an artist who emerged after World War II and has felt the
burden of telling what happened.
8.
The Fog of War by Errol Morris as an example of a film where the character, Robert
Mcnamara, struggles with himself.
9.
Documentary
filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s very direct verite engagements with different
communities.
10.
Documentary
filmmaker Ross McElwee, who inserts himself explicitly in the story, and the
story ends up being about his struggle to tell the story and the conditions of
that struggle.
11.
Ori Gersht’s
beautiful video of a Holocaust survivor dancer, Will You Dance for Me? The theme of the darkness and the light of
her experience is very powerful.
12.
Jewish philosopher
Walter Benjamin, a strong influence
of Ori Gersht’s.
13. Matthew Nash’s 16
Photographs at Ohrdruf about the photographs his
grandfather took when he liberated the first concentration camp Ohrdruf in
April 1945. It’s both the larger cultural story of the liberation and the
filmmaker’s story.
14. Jean Luc Godard’s use of
text on the screen.
15. Harun Farocki’s film about
a Nazi worker on the train to Auschwitz.
16.
The German
director Michael Haneki who doesn’t use music in his narrative features.
17.
AIB MFA graduate
Steven Gentile’s animated film A Pirate
Named Ned.
Issues and comments raised about 7-minute sample of Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran
A. General
Comments
1.
It’s extremely
well done for what it is given that it’s my first documentary. [Michael Newman]
2.
I have really
interesting material, it looks good and it’s solid. [Gregg Bordowitz]
3.
It’s a great
subject, a human subject and it flows well. [Jason Pramas]
4.
It's very
compelling and it parallels a lot of immigrant stories to America--coming over
as a teenager without your parents to escape the horrors of the homeland.
[Sarah Barr]
5.
It comes out
very professional; I could see it on PBS. It’s very engaging; it sucked me in. [Julie
Amrany]
B. Agency and
Point of View
1.
Who is the
agency in this film and what kind of responsibility does the agency have in
this presentation? The agency is who is speaking and the kind of responsibility
that person has in the presentation. There are many layers: the individuals’
and also my subject position. As a part of the agency, what is my
responsibility in this film, especially when dealing with the persecution of a
minority in the context of global politics? [Sunanda Sanyal; Assya Makawi]
2.
I need a
stronger point of view, which is something I can learn from looking at films,
documentary and narrative, so that my film is more compelling. [Deborah
Davidson] There’s no sense of me in the film, my engagement in the subject, or
my point of view. I may want to pull back and say it's not about me, rather
it's about these people. Implicitly I feel it's a story that should be told,
and that comes across, but viewers don't know why I’m telling the story on any
kind of personal level. [Michael Newman]
3.
Most of my
experience has been in the realm of making film tributes, and this film is very
much a tribute as it stands now. I should speak my voice and not the voice of
“This is the right way we make film tributes, so this is very much a tribute.”
[Ben Sloat]
C. Content
1.
I shouldn't
separate this story from the Palestinian issue. Unless my audience is
completely into accepting anything that is pro-Jewish, there will always be an
elephant in the room, and that is the question of the State of Israel vis a vis
Palestine, because Iranian Jewry is a minority endorsed by the State of Israel.
It should be more than a film about ethnic identity; it should also be about
politics. [Sunanda Sanyal]
2.
Don’t
oversimplify the history preceding the Islamic Revolution even if the
characters see the past through rose-colored glasses, idealize the leadership
of the Shah of Iran and turn a blind eye to his human rights track record. It’s
not about good side and bad side—I should avoid this dichotomy. [Sunanda
Sanyal] Show contrasts and contradictions to the characters’ perceptions. The
characters’ idealization of the past and loss of what they left behind yields
an inability for them to depict the past as it really was. [Ben Sloat; Gregg
Bordowitz]
3.
Think about what
the film should be communicating in addition to the history of these people.
[Michael Newman] The film fits into the larger global discussion of
displacement and dislocation. This can be a template for any diaspora community
anywhere—Cambodians living in Canada, Somalis living in Maine. Displaced people
have this rosy view of the past that may or may not be real. There are
idealizations and forgotten nuances, but the paradoxes, complexities and
contradictions are really important. [Ben Sloat] What can make me want to bond
with Jewish Iranians more specifically than being displaced? [Molly Painter]
4.
The characters
describe the history of the period but their emotions are totally even and
flat; alternatively the film could be a psychological profile of the
characters, and the events can be alluded to in the emotional resonance of
their story. It would be much more interesting to do
something emotional and metaphorical, that’s more about me, Wendy, as a person
and them as people, rather than be so closely wedded to the tradition of how a
documentary is made. How can I cull more information out of the characters? The
characters should be much more individualistic, complex and distinct, and not
just victims. Inside their idealized past, I should delve into their concerns,
what it meant to be a Jewish person rooted in the Middle East but not Israel? I’m
afraid of being offensive and exploitative, but I should make decisions after
the fact. Get the raging anger and then have a conversation about it. It’s as
if I have a high degree of self-censorship before I even film, and as a result,
I’m losing the heart of the matter and the result is flat. Where do I come in
because so far my voice is very neutral or completely hidden? I should more
directly engage with my characters. [Ben Sloat]
5.
What do I want
to figure out visually? [Ben Sloat]
Suggestions for making the film more visually interesting: Having two
characters engaged in an intimate conversation or making the object of the
samovar more prominent in the interview by having the character looking at the
samovar or showing the samovar and just hearing the character’s voice [Deborah
Davidson]. What objects or significant interactions can you tell stories with?
[Molly Painter] How can I make it more graphic? I had moments of it; the clip
of the woman sitting in the middle of the grass, dressed in a Hijab, all in
black, was very graphic. [Bobbianne Greggory-Dorr] Explore the possibility of
filming in Iran. [Michael Newman] I was really excited by the carpet scene as
being a part of who they are. [Molly Painter] A successful piece of art
reflects out to the audience, so you want the images to speak. [Deborah
Davidson]
6.
Identify other
stories within the Hebrew tradition that might help structure you. Since Esther’s
tomb is in Iran and the Book of Esther takes place in Persia, tying that into
the story would be really powerful. Esther should be a character somewhere in
the film. [Gregg Bordowitz]
7.
I’m taking on a
certain responsibility to tell this story even though it’s not my culture. I
should look at artists who have had similar aspirations to tell stories that are a part of their identity. [see
Suggested Resources No. 7; Deborah Davidson]
8.
In the editing
process, it's good to have a period of saying “yes” to everything, which will
lead you to include surprising material. You'll surprise yourself, and that
material will end up being the documentary. [Gregg Bordowitz]
9.
The music
component at the beginning of the 7-minute sample is jarring; you might want to
examine your intentions [Sarah Barr, Ben Sloat] The music makes the story
predictable. Are there other ways in documentary where you can create a lead in
to emotion without those things? Can silence be used more? What about the
non-sound? For example, the pauses in the interview showing how they’re trying
to remember and that the memories are distant or can we learn something from
their posture? [Jonathan Macagba] There are documentary filmmakers who are
against music for its manipulation. Make some studies of the use of music in
film by listening to the sound tracks. [Judith Barry]
10.
What other
historical events will I include? For example, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the
Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979-1981). [Sarah Barr]
11.
Include Hafez’
poetry and his themes that resonate for this story. [Gregg Bordowitz]
D. Audience
1.
Who is my
audience? Will it be a highly selective and pro-Jewish? [Gregg Bordowitz]
2.
What do I want
the viewer to gain from this documentary? Should the viewer have to think and
negotiate the material or do you want explicate everything for the viewer? [Ben
Sloat]
3.
Think about
issues of broadcasting versus narrow casting. One possibility is to first make
the documentary for people who are in the video and then broaden the audience
to include people who know people in the video, and then anyone else who might
be interested. People are interested in other people’s stories. [Gregg
Bordowitz]
E. Style
1.
I could do an
experimental documentary of the Jews of Iran, using all sorts of materials, like
text on the screen. Right now it's a very conventional documentary, with the
camera zooming in on the photographs and the headshots. The style of
documentary might depend on the audience I want to reach and how I want it
circulated. The film is interesting in terms of its importance obviously, in
terms of its content. If I’m dealing with history and memory that hasn't really
been dealt with on film before, obviously that's important. It's not an
innovative artwork in its form, but then if I made it that I wouldn't get it
into those places where I might want to distribute it, like television.
[Michael Newman]
2.
In a way it
moves away from the traditional documentary, looking at how people reconstruct
their past, which may or may not be accurate. There may be fantasy or desire involved [Michael Newman].
3.
Think about
moving away from the chronological, linear style shown in the sample. [Jonathan
Macagba; Sarah Barr] I characterize my style as creating collages by piecing
things together; perhaps moving away from the linear style and inserting more
images and vignettes will give it more of a collage feel. [Sarah Barr]
F. The Context
of the AIB MFA Program
1.
How does my
documentary relate to the art discourse in the AIB MFA Program? Can we
categorize conventional documentary style as art? Should the format and
presentation of my work be more complicated than documentary? Should it
incorporate different planes? In this discourse, I have to determine where I
want to locate myself. Is my aim to create a PBS style documentary? I’m adopting the straightforward conventions of how
documentary is made, and within the rubric of the AIB MFA Program, there’s an
invitation to push what is done and that would help me enormously. I’m in a
program not necessarily to shape the object—i.e. the footage I already
have--but to push my point of view over the two-year period that I’m in the MFA
program. Here at AIB we have self-expression. The storytelling in my clip is
straightforward in time and presentation, but it’s not for communicating in the
art world. Generally, how can the AIB MFA program serve you as a documentary
filmmaker? [Sunanda Sanyal, Ben Sloat, Michael Newman; Molly Painter]
G. Presentation
1.
As part of my
presentation, I should investigate different ways to display video. [Nina
Earley, Julie Amrany]
Suggestions for Future Film Project, Salad Stories
Salad Stories: Film what my experience actually is. I should start a practice where I
have a camera with me all the time, so for example, at breakfast if I have an
inflammatory conversation, that’s recorded. Also push toward something that’s
unpredictable, not prescribed. It would be incredibly valuable if I could do
something that’s about my actual experience. How can I use my skill set in this
very resonant set of themes I want to work with? How can I reevaluate what my
experience actually is outside of the constructions and proprieties of the
right way to do film. What is my way? What is my voice? [Ben Sloat]
Summary
On
the one hand, my first residency at the MFA Program of AIB/Lesley brought up
numerous challenges ahead for my work-in-progress documentary Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran. On the
other, it reinvigorated and motivated me to see this work to completion. Instructors
and students alike offered important feedback and suggestions that have stimulated
my thinking on how to proceed in terms of style, content, audience, and
presentation. For the fall semester, I will revisit the footage and imagery to
edit together a rough cut and wrestle with the issues of broadening the subject
matter within reason, appealing to a greater audience, moving away from
traditional documentary style, heightening the artistic sensibility of the
film, and finding my voice. This film, however, will definitely not be about
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as that would take the subject matter
off-course.
On
a broader level, the critiques brought up a concern I’ve had all along, which
is how as a documentary filmmaker do I fit in to the art discourse of this MFA program.
Up until entering the program, I followed the classical documentary format in
the development of my work, like that shown on PBS. The venues I envisioned for
screening my work were festivals, television and theatres. Museums and the art
world never entered my thinking. The philosophical question, “Can we categorize
conventional documentary style as art?” has resonated for me since the
residency. For now, my goal is to achieve a middle ground. For example, I will
experiment with more visually creative ways of telling the story of my Iran doc
with the material I’ve already collected.
Finally,
my residency experience has helped me think of how to grow and develop my skills
more broadly as a director/producer/editor. Avoiding self-censorship in the
interview process, finding my voice, stepping away from the tribute style, are
some examples. Additionally, my assignment for this semester to learn the
language of cinema by reading, watching films and doing video exercises
(deconstructing and recutting a Hollywood film and exploring mise en scene, the
long take, shot structure and point of view) will build my skills and help
shape the content of my current and future work.
