“Avoid Time Blur”: at CPH:DOX, the Red Heaven Filmmakers on Surviving Isolation

Keeping calm and carrying on (digitally, that is) during the global pandemic, CPH:DOX fittingly launched its five-day CPH:CONFERENCE series with a program titled “Science is Culture.” The “day celebrating the value of science in society and exploring how new approaches to science storytelling can engage the audience” was moderated by Jessica Harrop, supervising producer of science-centric doc studio Sandbox Films. (And impressively so. Not only did Harrop seem to be downloading questions directly from my head, but she kept the proceedings running swiftly and smoothly, all while sheltering in place from her Brooklyn apartment no less.)

While every discussion was filled with insightful dos and and often surprising don’ts (I’m talking to you, Neil deGrasse Tyson — or at least keynote speaker and University of Wisconsin prof Dietram Scheufele was) when it came to best practices in getting scientific points to stick, the final session of the day proved unnervingly timely in light of the COVID-19 circumstances. Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe, co-directors of Red Heaven, which screened CPH:DOX and had been slated to world premiere at SXSW, joined Harrop online to discuss their doc feature, which follows six scientists on NASA’s simulated Mars mission in Hawaii. It was a scientific experiment that also turned out to be a social one, as the sextet was pretty much confined to a 1,200-square-foot dome for an entire year. (A good reminder that we self-isolators here on earth can indeed survive in shoebox apartments for a month or more.)

To read all about it visit Filmmaker magazine.

“...An Attempt to see Anorexia From a Perspective That Goes Beyond That of the Spectacle”: Moara Passoni on Her CPH:DOX Debut Ecstasy

Premiering in the DOX:AWARD main competition at this year’s (now digital) CPH:DOX, Ecstasy (Êxtase) is the astonishing debut of Brazilian filmmaker Moara Passoni, a longtime collaborator of The Edge of Democracy Oscar nominee Petra Costa (who serves as the doc’s producer). It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, of historical images and staged scenes, of autobiographical diary entries obsessively developing a “geometry of hunger” even as political chaos grips ’90s Brazil (and it’s all tied together by a stunning soundtrack, including music by David Lynch and Lykke Li). It’s also a startlingly unusual coming-of-age story, one in which the director herself plays a vital role through the luminescent character of Clara, who, like Passoni, experiences the agony and the “ecstasy” of anorexia from childhood until the age of 18.

Filmmaker was fortunate to catch up with the currently NYC-based Passoni soon after CPH:DOX made the film available online (to local Danish audiences, that is).

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

CPH:DOX Goes Live (and Virtual): Online Talks and Debates

CPH:DOX, having already established itself as one of the most cutting-edge festivals on the circuit, can now take the prize for the ballsiest fest around. As a global pandemic causes cancellations and postponements from SXSW to Tribeca on these shores, the feisty Copenhagen International Documentary Festival has nevertheless refused to concede defeat. Within hours of the Danish government announcing restrictions on public gatherings, the festival made an announcement of its own. CPH:DOX 2020 would keep calm, carry on, and simply pivot to the virtual world. And as manmade “natural” disasters are primed to become the new normal, it might also be ushering in a brand new festival world.

And while the new virtual cinema (an eclectic selection of 40 films from the program, with more to come) is only accessible to those based in Denmark (though at 6 euros per film it’s a socially-isolating family bargain if you are), and live broadcasts from the five-day CPH:CONFERENCE strictly for accredited guests, the festival has decided to make its “first-ever digital debate programme” something for everyone. CPH:DOX Live is comprised of 15 debates “that can be experienced for free and live throughout the festival at 4pm and 8pm daily. You can follow the debate either through a link on our website or on Facebook, where the debates will be broadcast live.” (Though the talks are paired with specific docs, no film watching is required.)

To read all about it visit Filmmaker magazine.

"...A Forensic Tick-Tock of How Lies Spread”: Andrew Rossi on After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News

The information landscape has transformed with vertigo-inducing speed since 2011, when Andrew Rossi last looked under the hood of the (reality-based) news business in Page One: Inside the New York Times. And now that Edward R. Murrow is rolling in his grave (and Geraldo Rivera is most likely looking for ways to monetize that), it makes sense that Rossi would be the filmmaker to tackle today’s crisis of media faith with his latest HBO doc, After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News.

Executive produced by CNN’s Brian Stelter, the film takes a deep dive into the post-truth world that birthed the likes of Pizzagate, the Seth Rich murder conspiracy, and more. And it does so through the eyes of both the perpetrators and, more importantly, the actual flesh-and-blood victims – ultimately revealing the human toll of a “propaganda pipeline” that affects us all.

Filmmaker was fortunate to catch up with Rossi just prior to the doc’s March 19th airdate on HBO.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

CPH:DOX Goes Virtual

CPH:DOX is what might best be described as a “living” festival. While most big name fests strive for relevancy through catchy branding, the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival is a different entity entirely. It’s a festival animated by the sincere belief in a collective world, and a core commitment to address our global “issues of the day” and what impact they could very well have on all our future – through the moving image, of course, but also via events, talks, masterclasses and more. It’s a holistic approach that’s organically defined this nonfiction fest from its humble beginnings all the way back in 2003.

Which is why, in the wake of this edition’s COVID19 cancellation, it didn’t surprise me in the least that this nimble and innovative fest wouldn’t skip a beat before pivoting to bring the international filmmaking community together in a virtual version. So with this big picture in mind, and while we wait with bated breath for the digital rollout to commence, I’ve compiled a small list of events I’d been hoping to attend in person – parts of which I am still hoping could be salvaged online (and through the miracle of teleconferencing).

To read the rest visit Hammer to Nail.

Doc Star of the Month: Cynthia Cooper, 'Women of Troy'

It's a crying shame that Cynthia Cooper is not a LeBron-level household name. Having won championships in college, at the Olympics and in the WNBA — where as a Houston Comet she was named MVP in the finals for four straight seasons (still a record) and anointed by fans as one of the Top 15 players in the league's history — does anyone doubt things would have been different had she been born into a non-patriarchal world? Hard to imagine any NBA athlete with that type of track record being exiled to 10 years of overseas play just to earn a talent-commensurate wage.

And now with the COVID19 crisis hitting women's sports especially hard, the WNBA draft coming up on April 17, the season opening a month later — and neither date is guaranteed — it's unfortunately perfect timing to finally right the sexist wrongs. Filmmaker Alison Ellwood does just this with her HBO doc Women of Troy, which checks in with b-ball's female trailblazers today (Cooper shares screen time with other WNBA Hall of Fame legends like Cheryl Miller, the dogged coaches and more) to look back at their unconscionably dustbin-confined history through thrilling archival footage of those pre-WNBA salad days, when Cooper and Miller led the USC Trojans to NCAA glory. And fortunately for Documentary, we were able to catch up with "Coop" herself a day prior to the film’s March 10th airdate on HBO Sports (the film is currently streaming on HBO GO and HBO Now).

To read my interview with the sports star doc star visit Documentary magazine.