Docs to Watch Directors Roundtable
Written by Edith Manfred. Photo by Kashvi Pallapotu.
If you needed a burst of motivation on Wednesday night, look no further than the Lucas Theater during the Docs to Watch Directors Roundtable. Ten directors from this year’s top ten festival documentaries joined together to share what drives them in their storytelling and documentary practice. When storytelling becomes that indescribable compulsive force that pushes us into our artistic mediums, the documentaries being shown can change the world.
All of the directors spoke to the power of filmmaking to be a tool for freedom and self-expression, and especially of personal discovery. The creation of a documentary requires the creators to be detectives of both themselves and their subjects. This is shown clearly in Mariska Hargitay’s film “My Mom Jayne,” in which she explores her mother’s past in relation to her own childhood. Hargitay spoke to the freeing quality of documentary filmmaking, voicing how it takes courage not only to tell someone else’s story, but especially to tell a story about yourself. The range of emotions and experiences that Hargitay went through while investigating her family’s past left her reeling, and yet with a newfound sense of self that she now gets to share with the world. She had to dive deeper into her trauma in order to unravel it, giving “purpose to the pain.”
A primary theme of the discussion was the idea of commercial storytelling in conjunction with documentary filmmaking. It’s often believed that documentaries and non-fiction filmmaking are not as commercial and profitable as huge blockbuster movies that become box office hits. This may be true on an economic scale, but the impact that these documentaries impart on the world cannot be overstated. Moderator Scott Feinberg of “The Hollywood Reporter” emphasized that we are in a “golden age of non-fiction filmmaking” in which it’s easier than ever to use your perspective to tell a story about the world. All of the directors spoke to the gifts that documentaries can become and how, when done correctly, a good documentary is a give-and-take between the creator and viewer.
Following in that vein, the political implications of documentary filmmaking are stronger than ever, giving this medium of storytelling growing power. The directors reiterated how films are a microcosm that can hold a mirror up to society, and that we must fight to maintain the humanizing power of stories. Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov spoke about how his newest film, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” was a story of reclamation that simultaneously highlighted the circle of violence happening on the frontlines in Ukraine right now. Chernov’s hard-hitting message was that everyone in that room can show resilience in the face of authoritarian power, and everyone’s perspective has value. We experience the news on small screens all day, every day, and by using modern technology and our own experiences, we can tell those stories on a larger and more impactful scale. Perhaps we’re becoming numb to the global atrocities plastered throughout the news because we’re exposed to so much, so quickly. By taking an hour and sitting down to watch a documentary, we can get a deeper look into another human’s life and experiences. More intentional and impactful experiences like these can give us a newfound understanding of how others are experiencing the world and what we can do about it.
Suzannah Herbert, the director and producer of “Natchez,” spoke earlier in the day in her film’s Q&A about balancing modern-day perspectives with historical explanations for the complicated past that Natchez, Miss. and the larger United States bear witness to. She voiced that “as a country, we do not confront our difficult past. We’re never going to move forward, we’re never going to heal, we’re never going to create an equitable or just society; it’s just impossible. And I think that this film shows the corrosiveness of the myths and of not telling the whole story, even though it is difficult and painful, I think the results are painful.” The fear that we may feel around certain subjects within our history or current events shows that those stories matter. The directors all spoke about experiencing being “afraid in a magnetic way” and using discomfort to identify the stories worth telling.
The clearest takeaway of the discussion was that all stories matter. Belief systems start on a micro level, and when we unpack those and share them with others, we can create community and understanding. Hargitay summed it up: “I think every single human being on the planet wants to be seen, and everyone has a story. People sometimes are scared of their stories, so they want to push them down. There’s another liberation, a community, when we tell them, and then you learn.”
As Editor-in-Chief, Edith Manfred guides and supports a talented group of staff and contributors in pursuing their creative endeavors at District. At SCAD, Edith is a Photography major with a minor in Graphic Design, and is a part of the Cross Country and Track & Field teams. Outside of writing and taking photos for District, she can probably be found running long distances on the streets of Savannah, updating her blog, or talking about that new podcast she just listened to… again.
