Thomas Rigler was kind or misguided enough to invite me to participate last night on an
International Documentary Association panel on alternative techniques in documentary storytelling. Everybody else on the panel was making or had already made interesting documentaries:
The moderator was
Eddie Schmidt, a really smart guy who made the movie
This Film Is Not Yet Rated about the boners at the MPAA. He also showed some excellent re-enactment footage of cavemen wagging their dongs at one another in a threatening manner. Dana Berry showed clips of the refurbished 25th Anniversary
Cosmos he produced and directed for broadcast. It was like jellyfish in space. Steve Anderson showed a clip from his film
Fuck, some really cool animation by old school animation supermaster
Bill Plympton.
Steven Boe showcased animation from the film he and his wife and partner are making,
Mythic Journeys.
Since I hadn't made anything, I played
Through the Eyes of the Pueblo, an episode of BBtv World. Xeni Jardin handed out Flip and other semi-disposable video cameras to kids in Guatemala, then used their footage to put together a multiple-first-person look at life in a rural village. And when talk turned to re-enactment in documentaries, I got to show an assembly clip of Heather's Ren Faire doc
Huzzah. She spazzed out in the back row and tried to make me not show it right before it rolled, but it was awesome.
Super good times, and thanks to everyone involved. We're definitely going to the open IDA panel tomorrow night (at Kodak in Hollywood) on how to finish projects.
