April 5, 2009 Day Four Full Frame - Final Day
Drham, NC 12:51 pm

Blue Coffee Cafe

 I rushed into see "Disturbing The Universe" this morning and sat in the second row. The film, was wonderful, it stirred me on more than a superficial level. Although it was an interview or for lack of a better term "talking head" style documentary it was OK with this one. If anyone is familiar with William Kunstler you will now that he is controversial and was a bit of a revolutionary mad lawyer. The film was made by his two daughters. It opens with them as little girls in a home movie, introducing their father. William Kunstler, whether you agree with him or not lived life from his heart and he was a real person. What moved me was this passing down, this honor from the daughters, and the passing down of values or history, story, whatever you want to call it to the daughters. That moved me to tears, that one man who lived his life with passion passed down whatever that was to his daughters. Something hits me so strong about that idea, about that truth.

I have to say, it was a good documentary. I am eating, getting ready to go to the award ceremony, after that it  will be one more documentary and I am off, back to reality in Wilmington.

After Award Ceremony:

The award ceremony was what it was, an award ceremony. It is pretty safe to say the a film called, "Burma VJ" racked up the awards. It was a film I hadn't seen. After the award show I got tickets and headed off to see the award winning documentary.

Sitting outside, in sun, for 50 minutes wasn't as torturous as many American's like to make waiting in line. It was actually quite pleasant to sit with fellow doc lovers and wait to see another film.

After seeing "Burma VJ" I realized why it won so many awards. The film used footage captured by the DVB - Democratic Voice of Burma network from the closed nation of Burma. These journalist risk their lives and capture footage through any means necessary and smuggle it out of the country in order to broadcast it illegally back into the country and throughout the world. This film, smartly and emotionally took footage from September 2007 when the Burmese Buddhist monks began a nationwide protest against the totalitarian military regime which rules the country into oppression. The film successfully recreates the moments, through the eyes of one of the journalist who was the point man for communicating to the embedded journalists in Burma and the rest the world, including CNN, BBC, and the US government. These journalist were our only source of knowledge about the country. The regime, murdered the monks, beat people and suppressed the movement. The documentary completely sucks you into the Burmese VJ's world with footage from cell phones and poor quality DV cameras. It was simply amazing and extremely important. Giving voice to a voiceless people and an urgency to an extreme situation. I am happy it won the awards and I hope it awakens people to the Burmese reality.

Later:


A strangely authoritative, older man kept making comments at Q and A’s. I thought to myself that it seemed odd someone in the audience would be so authoritative and make such comments. After arriving home Sunday, looking at Festival pictures posted online, I came across one picture that astounded me. It was the authoritative comment happy, older man and the caption read, 
“D.A. Pennebaker.”

I sat ten feet away from D.A. Pennebaker and never knew it. The man that helped inspire me to make "Troubled Waters", be a Bob Dylan fan, and enjoy “Verite” film making, He was one of the first Verite documentary film makers. I was so close I could have touched his bald spot and I never knew it.

For those of you who do not know of the man, you should. He was one of the first documentary film makers ever, helped define the genre, and created the Rockumentary. He made such classics as, the Dylan centered, “Don’t Look Back” or the first concert film, “Monterey Pop” He invented the “handheld” portable 16mm camera and sound mixer which revolutionized film making and help lead to the “New Wave” movement in the fiction world of film. He gave a new generation the tools to make films in a way they had never been made and his style helped define and create a genre. I could go on at length, but I will censor my giddy admiration.  All of this to say, I wish I could have just shaken his hand and thanked him. I guess I can’t look back.

In the end, the last four days have been wonderful. They have given me insight into the reality of my future world and hope that this world is not too far off. I hope and pray that this documentary can impact others as some of these documentaries at Full Frame have impacted me.

Thanks for reading.

-Goodnight