EXTRA CREDIT > DOC10 (THURS MARCH 30 - SUN APRIL 2)

Some super fresh documentary films are coming to Chicago this Thursday through this Sunday, and I will give you extra credit if you go see one of them and post an inspired critique detailing what you saw and how you felt about it.

Please check out the incredible schedule, choose the film you want to see the most, grab your discounted ticket (students get 25% off), and post a thorough, thoughtful response here which lets us know the following:

• The title of the film you saw and why you chose to see it
• A 1-2 sentence logline describing the film 
• What you thought of the film conceptually/dramatically (in terms of its Authenticity, Authority, Ethics/Responsibility, Evidence, Argument, etc.)
• What you thought of the film aesthetically (in terms of its use of camera, editing, sound/music, etc.)
• Any additional details about the experience you had of going to see the film (in terms of audience response, the screening venue, etc.)

To receive extra credit, be sure to upload your reflection here by no later than 5pm next Tuesday April 4.

I'm planning to go myself, so here's hoping I see you there!

LET THE FIRE BURN

I'll keep it short for this week's post, in part because you've all been working so hard. That said, and as we prepare to discuss the use of archival footage in documentary-making when we return from break, I would love for you to watch Let the Fire Burn - available on iTunes and Amazon for $2,99, and on YouTube and elsewhere for $3.99 - and let me know what you think of this film, particularly about the way it uses archival footage to tell its thoughtful and ultimately potent story.

Write whatever you'd like this week, but please remember to support your assertions by referencing specific moments, scenes or sequences from the film. And if in your reply you can address concepts of Authenticity, Authority, Evidence, Responsibility and how they relate to your understanding and appreciation of Let the Fire Burn - all the better.

Good luck, have a wonderful break, and please remember to post your response here by no later than 5pm on Tuesday, March 28!

TABLOID

John Grierson famously defined documentary as "the creative treatment of actuality," and for this week's post, I want you to watch Errol Morris's Tabloid on Netflix and consider all the weird and wonderful ways in which Morris creatively treats the truth, as well as how he uses visual display to generate meaning. And do the film's style and sensibility - as well as its main nonfictional performer - contribute to your understanding of its theme (which is...)? How?

Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line; Fog of War) is one of the most influential directors working today. Before his death, Roger Ebert wrote, "After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven't found another filmmaker who intrigues me more...Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini.”

Write whatever you'd like, but please be sure to address your feelings about the way Tabloid utilizes the aesthetics of filmmaking to tell its story - Morris himself says Tabloid is in many ways a story about the way stories are told. Is the film authentic? Was the filmmaker responsible to its subject and main character? Would you have made it differently? If so, how?

Finally, do you think the film's main subject Joyce McKinney was right to file a lawsuit against Morris (article here) and travel around the country attending several screenings in protest (even more amazing article here)? Needless to say, this story is a hoot, Morris is a genius, and I look forward to discussing both with you in more detail when we next meet.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Tabloid and can't wait to read your thoughts about the film and its aesthetics - by no later than 5pm next Tuesday of course.

ROOM 237

There are two types of non-fiction films: those that use dramatic conventions to tell their stories, and those that, as one of your recommended texts Crafting Truth states, "aim at developing experimental or poetic ways of arranging story information."

Some documentaries - called "essays" - contradict the assumption that the world can be known in a definitive way. The "essay" film shifts the focus from the end product of the investigative effort to the process by which knowledge is created. To speak metaphorically, it is the movement, not the destination, that matters the most.

Consider this as you watch Rodney Ascher's fascinating film Room 237 on Netflix. What specifically about the story - poetically or otherwise - resonated with you? Is the film dramatic? Is it poetic? One thing's for sure: Ascher's film draws attention not only to the various theories and hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining but goes further to reveal the subjectivity of the documentary maker and the subjective nature of knowledge and understanding itself.

I look forward to reading your answers to those questions, along with the rest of your comments by no later than 5pm next Tuesday.