Interviews

Rider Strong Moves On

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Rider Strong grew up on television. Not like most of us, consuming it after school with a Hi-C juice box and a Swiss Cake roll, but as Shawn Hunter, the beloved boy next door on Boy Meets World. Considering the fate of other child actors, spending ages 13 to 20 under the hot lights of… Read more »

Werner Herzog Made Me Do It

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Stuck in a dead-end job and worried he’d never make it as a filmmaker, Lee Kazimir decided to take Werner Herzog’s advice. Legendary filmmaker Herzog had once said in an interview that he believed the best way to become a filmmaker would be not to practice filmmaking but to walk — say, from Madrid to… Read more »

The Future of Public Media: Talking with Pat Aufderheide

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At SILVERDOCS 2008, writer Randi Cecchine talks with Pat Aufderheide, founder and director of the Center for Social Media at American University, about moving their Beyond Broadcast conference to SILVERDOCS, unraveling the complexities of fair use, and taking on the future of public media. You are involved with SILVERDOCS in a bunch of different capacities… Read more »

To Shoot “Flying,” Jennifer Fox Gave Up Control of Her Camera

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As an award-winning director, producer and camerawoman, Jennifer Fox is certainly well-versed in all the conventions of ‘proper’ documentary filmmaking – introduce the camera slowly, don’t talk about your own life, “create a neutral plane they can project on,” as she says. However, her latest film Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman, a six-hour series… Read more »

“Prince Among Slaves”: Recreating History on a Budget

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Prince Among Slaves, which aired in February on PBS as part of public television’s Black History Month programming, is the story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima, an African prince who was captured by slave traders in 1788. He completed the Middle Passage in shackles, and ended up sold to a farmer of modest means in Natchez,… Read more »

Writing a Companion Book to Your Film

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An examination of how the Iraq War went so wrong, Charles H. Ferguson’s documentary No End In Sight is by turns forensic and surreal, a synthesis of devastating facts, damning archival footage, and poignant interviews with well-placed Iraqis and Americans who tried in vein to keep catastrophe at bay. It’s an unusually ambitious film for… Read more »

What an Actor Looks for in a Filmmaker

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He’s most recognized for his menacing role as Ethan Rom on Lost, most respected for playing the cheated-on, threatening husband in In the Bedroom, and most pitied as an innocent victim in The Grudge. Yes, William Mapother can play scary. But he can also play nice. Exhibit A: A charming scene in the light and… Read more »

How to Get a Short on Logo

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Grassroots filmmakers are always looking for mainstream distribution, and short films often have a particularly tough time gaining exposure. Which is why the success of the Logo Network’s short-film programming is welcome news. Two years ago, Logo, which is basically MTV’s gay cousin, launched The Click List: The Best in Short Film, a weekly show… Read more »