Claus Mueller

DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in America, was held from November 9-16 under major sponsorship of Netflix, HBO, Amazon, A&E, History Films, and support from more than 40 other media companies.  The festival had its most successful edition since its establishment in 2009. Compared to 2016 it grew by 20% with respect to film submissions and attendance. 111 feature-length and 85 short documentaries were shown in three downtown New York City locations including 24 world premieres and 23 U.S. premieres.

The program had several outstanding sections. In VISIONARY TRIBUTE Errol Morris and Sheila Nevins were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their substantial bodies of works. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady received the ROBERT AND ANNE DREW AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY EXCELLENCE, in recognition of their mid-career development of a new project with the distinguished use of observational cinema. Cara Mertes was honored with the LEADING LIGHT AWARD for her critical contribution to documentary filmmaking. In the SHORT LIST section, the festival presented the 15 best documentaries of the preceding year as recognized by festival awards, critical reviews and strong distribution.  The list included, for example, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James), Faces Places (Agnes Varda, JR), The Force (Peter Nicks), One of Us (Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) and Strong Island (Yance Ford). The eight-day series of panels and workshops DOCNYC PRO for working filmmakers provided comprehensive up to date professional and knowledge and skills. Co-presented by Showtime ONLY IN NEW YORK MEETINGS were held for the second year over four days setting up encounters for filmmakers with industry decision makers. They were open to filmmakers selected by DOCNYC festival programmers based on the strength of their work-in-progress for 2018. 

Co-presented by amazon studios, the DOC NYC PRO program featured eight full days of seminars on the essentials of making documentaries. They covered the state of documentaries, shorts, editing, cinematography, pitching productions as well as funding and legal aspects. Each day drew a large audience of young aspiring filmmakers to panels with film industry specialists.  Simon Kilmury, the Executive Director of the International Documentary Association (IDA), Nanfu Wang Director/Producer (I Am Another You) and Josh Braun, Producer/Co-President (Submarine Entertainment) served on the first day panels covering the state of the documentary.  Broad-based panels provided an excellent introduction to documentary film making, covering opportunities and challenges; presenting a story where the film style matches the story; sources of funding from budget articulation matching the story to grants and crowd funding; best use of time and budget in post-production; and in the last session the best deal entering the market that has a rapidly growing number of new production and distribution outfits.

Naila and the Uprising, Julia Bacha, USA, 2017

It is rare to come across a documentary that appears flawless in handling a critical issue with a production totally in synch with the topic. The film emancipates the audience with groundbreaking insights and articulating a reflexive vision of political events. Using excellent animation, archival footage, personal images and home videos spanning two generation we learn through the portrait of Naila Ayesh, the hidden history of the Palestinian First Intifada, the non-violent Palestinian movement, and the crucial political role Naila and other women played in and after the uprising. The documentary also provides crucial insights into the establishment of a woman’s movement, the Israeli response to the Intifada, and the peace negotiations leading to the international recognition of Palestine. Israel’s domination and oppression in the occupied Palestinian territories and the lasting conflicts with the Palestinians are well documented but the role of Palestinian women during the Intifada and afterwards has not been revealed. When most male Palestinian activists were imprisoned by the Israeli army, disappeared or deported, a political vacuum was created which was filled by women who Naila helped to organize. After the uprising broke out in 1987 she joined an underground network of women which asserted the right to self-determination, engaged in widespread agitation and demonstrations, the education of children as well as skills training for women. With the help of Naila, who became Director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza in the 80s, Palestinian women emancipated themselves from the patriarchal society, embraced self-sufficiency, and boycotted Israeli products. When arrested and tortured by the Israeli army she had a miscarriage in prison and was denied access to doctor.   Naila became a cause celebre when her case was embraced by the Israeli press revealing that she had been held by the secret service Shin Beth. She was detained a second time when organizing in the occupied territories.  The struggle continued until peace negotiations took place and three female grassroots activists became part of the Palestinian delegation. However, secret talks between Palestinians and Israelis took place without the presence of women who had been responsible for sustaining the Intifada. The resulting accord did not reflect their interests. When peace set in, Palestinian women lost their leadership positions and were required to secure backing by a male if they wanted to apply for a passport. Gender equality was questioned again. Ironically, Algerian women who fought during the war of liberation against the French army lost some of their equal status after the military victory of the FLN in which women played an important role.

ONE OF US, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, USA, 2017

This documentary offers a superbly presented portrait of three individuals who have left the insular Hasidic community and go through a radical change in their life.  Before the rupture they were completely embedded in a community where religious rules prescribe all aspects of public and private behavior. The notion of being an individual apart from these prescriptions was not accepted. They changed to a life in the secular world and abandoned the community which sustained them before and adopted an existence coming close to total isolation.  In their former environment into which they were born control was exerted and reinforced by the members of the community and their families. Emancipation as an individual was not possible nor was sexual equality. Women are subordinated to men and disputes were settled in the family or by the ultimate authority of the rabbi. In books for children faces of girls are erased. Having left their old homes and community individuals are shunned. Relatives and former friends will no longer talk with the ‘outsiders’ and any contact is precluded.  Etty, a woman with seven children is abused by her husband and in divorce proceedings and struggles to retain some custody of the children. The judge acknowledges the abuse but rules that the children should stay with the husband and only gives her restricted access of one hour per week. The ruling is intended to preserve status quo and maintain the environment then children know. Virtual ownership of the children resides in the congregation as sanctified by religious rules. Emotional attachment to the mother does not override religious considerations. The freedom of secular life as expressed in living and exploring the outside world does not fully compensate for the separation from one’s family and the sense of belonging. It is difficult once becoming an outsider and home roots are cut to develop meaning and a purpose for one’s life, as expressed by a young man who has been living on his own for several years. Following their subjects over three years Ewing and Grady provide the viewer with compelling insights into the painful process of leaving one’s family and community and being forced to cope with the sense of loss and homelessness.

Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Killings, Joe Berlinger, 1917, USA

This four-hour miniseries documentary from the Sundance Channel is an excellent example of Berlinger’s approach of presenting complex documentary material in the manner of a fiction film without making compromises. The aim of showing a real event objectively, the killing of the Clutter family, the context of that family and the consequences of the crime for the family, community and survivors without following preconceptions or imposition of an ideological framework was met by Berlinger and sets his film sharply apart from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood book and Richard Brook’s adaptation of the Capote book. From an observer’s point of view, Berlinger’s film, timed for the 50th anniversary of the Clutter killing, demonstrates outstanding editing, great timing of the sequences of the story, ingenuity in the discovery of new material, and a close personal rapport with the characters who were affected in many ways by the Clutter killing.  Rigorous and extensive research allowed Berlinger and his crew to discover previously unseen material, to interview family members, friends and neighbors of the Clutter family, to speak with law enforcement and criminal justice officers solving and judging the killers, incorporate diaries and letters from the murderers and material from their families as well as letters and archival footage on Capote. In some cases, the sons and daughters of individuals involved with the case were also interviewed. Original visual material, original audio recording, and documents of the case were incorporated in Cold Blooded. Most of this information was not used by Truman Capote, in part because many people from Holcomb, the small farming community in Kansas where the killing took place, declined to be interviewed by Capote as did all members of the Clutter family.

The prosecutor took three days to present the case against the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock and the defense was prevented from articulating reasons for mercy pleading for a life sentence rather than the death sentence. The jury took 30 minutes to condemn the killers to death, and the execution was set for May 13, 1960.  Exhausting all appeals, Smith and Hickock were hung on April 14, 1965 forcing Capote to wait five years before he could write the final chapter of In Cold Blood. As one of the two surviving daughters put it, Capote did not talk to any family members or friends. Nor did he honor an agreement that the daughters could review his New Yorker article before publication. Capote visited the Clutter home where the crime took place only once. Berlinger had direct access to the comprehensive recollections of Diana Edwards who he interviewed and featured frequently in the documentary.  Diana was the first cousin and niece of the Clutter family and has a negative opinion of Capote shared by many people from Holcomb community. A writer herself, she considered Capote a literary carpet bagger. Capote seemed to have been primarily interested in the killers, specifically Perry Smith who like Capote had a deprived childhood. Berlinger wanted to provide an objective portrait of the Clutters and succeeded in doing so.

Claus Mueller       filmexchange@gmail.com