2021 DOC CHICAGO
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In 2021, Doc Chicago unfolded as a free hybrid event on Fri, Nov 5–Sun, Nov 7. Sessions on Friday and Sunday’s Grant Writing Workshop were held online, while an in-person gathering took place on Saturday, Nov 6 at the Chicago Cultural Center. In-person film screenings included a short documentary showcase co-presented with Chicago Filmmakers and a co-presentation with the Chicago Underground Film Festival of A Machine to Live In.
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SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, NOV 5, 2021
Meet the Local Grant-Makers
Are you looking for funding for your next documentary project? Hear from some of the grant-makers who are providing support for projects by local filmmakers and ask them questions during this interactive online session. Presenters include Mark Hallett, Illinois Humanities; Julie Partynski and Kalena Chevalier from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE); and Chicago Filmmakers’ staff who will provide info about the Chicago Digital Media Production Fund. Moderator: filmmaker and writer Julie Englander (see a description below of Julie’s Grant Writing Workshop on Sunday, Nov 7).
Meet the Local Grant-Makers
Are you looking for funding for your next documentary project? Hear from some of the grant-makers who are providing support for projects by local filmmakers and ask them questions during this interactive online session. Presenters include Mark Hallett, Illinois Humanities; Julie Partynski and Kalena Chevalier from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE); and Chicago Filmmakers’ staff who will provide info about the Chicago Digital Media Production Fund. Moderator: filmmaker and writer Julie Englander (see a description below of Julie’s Grant Writing Workshop on Sunday, Nov 7).
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Finding Your Audience
Who is the audience for your work and how can you engage with them in an empowering way? This online session will highlight DIY and educational distribution, audience engagement, impact producing, and community screenings. Questions encouraged! Our presenters include: filmmaker Naeema Torres, who worked in home entertainment distribution prior to serving as the impact producer for Chicago filmmaker Ashley O’Shay’s documentary Unapologetic; and Peabody and Emmy award-winning filmmaker and professor Jay Rosenstein (In Whose Honor; The Lord Is Not On Trial Here Today), who will speak about his work with New Day Films, a filmmaker-run distribution company that has served the educational market since 1971. Moderator: Thavary Krouch, Chicago Film Office. |
SATURDAY, NOV 6, 2021
Welcome + Roundtables
Join our topic-driven version of “speed-dating”! Each corner of the room will have one or two presenters who will engage in small group conversations about a specific topic (e.g. documentary producing, sound for docs, or editing). At the ten minute mark, audience members will be asked to move to a different corner to engage with another presenter and topic. This will be a fun way to meet new people while learning from other filmmakers. Tip: bring your business cards!
Among the presenters were documentary producers Nevo Shinaar and Fenell Doremus (COOKED: Survival by Zip Code), accessible media advocate and documentary editor Matt Lauterbach (For the Left Hand), director/documentary editor Emmett Adler, filmmaker/editor/festival programmer Amber Love, festival strategist Deborah Rudolph, and award-winning cinematographers Keith Walker (Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, Good Trouble: The Story of John Robert Lewis) and Dana Kupper (Stevie).
Welcome + Roundtables
Join our topic-driven version of “speed-dating”! Each corner of the room will have one or two presenters who will engage in small group conversations about a specific topic (e.g. documentary producing, sound for docs, or editing). At the ten minute mark, audience members will be asked to move to a different corner to engage with another presenter and topic. This will be a fun way to meet new people while learning from other filmmakers. Tip: bring your business cards!
Among the presenters were documentary producers Nevo Shinaar and Fenell Doremus (COOKED: Survival by Zip Code), accessible media advocate and documentary editor Matt Lauterbach (For the Left Hand), director/documentary editor Emmett Adler, filmmaker/editor/festival programmer Amber Love, festival strategist Deborah Rudolph, and award-winning cinematographers Keith Walker (Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, Good Trouble: The Story of John Robert Lewis) and Dana Kupper (Stevie).
Spotlight Presentations
We've incorporated short Spotlight Presentations into the schedule that give local filmmakers and organizations a chance to briefly share about a new film project they’re working on, a program they organize, or another documentary-related topic. We encourage you to seek out the Spotlight speakers during breaks in the program to ask them follow-up questions. Presenters throughout the day will include: Fenell Doremus, Documentary Producers Alliance; Latoya Flowers (Still Searching); Edwin Ruiz (Pico); Emmett Adler, Video Consortium; Rachel Rozcycki, (No One Asked You); accessible media advocate Matt Lauterbach; Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films; and Liliane Calfee, DePaul/CHA Youth Programs.
We've incorporated short Spotlight Presentations into the schedule that give local filmmakers and organizations a chance to briefly share about a new film project they’re working on, a program they organize, or another documentary-related topic. We encourage you to seek out the Spotlight speakers during breaks in the program to ask them follow-up questions. Presenters throughout the day will include: Fenell Doremus, Documentary Producers Alliance; Latoya Flowers (Still Searching); Edwin Ruiz (Pico); Emmett Adler, Video Consortium; Rachel Rozcycki, (No One Asked You); accessible media advocate Matt Lauterbach; Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films; and Liliane Calfee, DePaul/CHA Youth Programs.
Exploring the Archives
Who gets to decide which media projects are worth preserving? Are you working with communities whose perspectives and history are rarely represented? Whether you’re a filmmaker who is interested in sourcing archival footage or want to preserve your own work, bring your questions to our speakers: filmmaker Alex Halkin, Chiapas Media Project/Americas Media Initiative; Sara Chapman, Media Burn Archive; and Justin Williams, Southside Home Movie Project.
Who gets to decide which media projects are worth preserving? Are you working with communities whose perspectives and history are rarely represented? Whether you’re a filmmaker who is interested in sourcing archival footage or want to preserve your own work, bring your questions to our speakers: filmmaker Alex Halkin, Chiapas Media Project/Americas Media Initiative; Sara Chapman, Media Burn Archive; and Justin Williams, Southside Home Movie Project.
On Collaboration: A Conversation With Judy Hoffman
In the 1970s, Judy Hoffman was active in the Alternative Television Movement and was experimenting with small format video equipment. After assisting French ethnographer and filmmaker Jean Rouch, she became deeply influenced by cinéma vérité and the idea of shared anthropology. Hoffman played a major role in the formation of Chicago’s Kartemquin Films as an original collective member, camera assistant on their early films, and Associate Producer for Golub. Hoffman was the first woman Camera Assistant in Chicago, working on feature films and numerous PBS series. A major focus of her work has been with the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation of British Columbia, producing films and videos about the reclaiming of Native culture. For over ten years, Hoffman directed a video training program on the N'amgis Reserve so that the Kwakwaka'wakw could create their own videos. Hoffman is a Professor of Practice in the Arts in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
In the 1970s, Judy Hoffman was active in the Alternative Television Movement and was experimenting with small format video equipment. After assisting French ethnographer and filmmaker Jean Rouch, she became deeply influenced by cinéma vérité and the idea of shared anthropology. Hoffman played a major role in the formation of Chicago’s Kartemquin Films as an original collective member, camera assistant on their early films, and Associate Producer for Golub. Hoffman was the first woman Camera Assistant in Chicago, working on feature films and numerous PBS series. A major focus of her work has been with the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation of British Columbia, producing films and videos about the reclaiming of Native culture. For over ten years, Hoffman directed a video training program on the N'amgis Reserve so that the Kwakwaka'wakw could create their own videos. Hoffman is a Professor of Practice in the Arts in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
Beyond the Single Screen
How can we bring a documentary sensibility to work that reaches beyond the single plane of our computers, TVs, or cinema screens? Hear about the artistic process behind the work of some highly creative Chicago media artists!
When Latoya Flowers doesn’t work on her documentary Still Searching, she serves as the Senior Multimedia Creative at the Field Museum, where she collaborates with exhibit designers, content developers, illustrators, motion graphic artists, and lighting designers to create immersive multimedia experiences for traveling and permanent exhibitions. Chicago filmmakers Salome Chasnoff (Code of the Freaks) and Meredith Zielke (A Machine to Live In) will discuss their collaborative project Present Absence, a deeply moving five-channel video installation that honors the lives of people who were killed by Chicago Police. Based on interviews with family members, the installation invites viewers to sit down amongst the mourners to encounter those who were murdered not as cases or statistics but as full human beings.
Panel moderator: filmmaker and educator JP Sniadecki, Northwestern University
How can we bring a documentary sensibility to work that reaches beyond the single plane of our computers, TVs, or cinema screens? Hear about the artistic process behind the work of some highly creative Chicago media artists!
When Latoya Flowers doesn’t work on her documentary Still Searching, she serves as the Senior Multimedia Creative at the Field Museum, where she collaborates with exhibit designers, content developers, illustrators, motion graphic artists, and lighting designers to create immersive multimedia experiences for traveling and permanent exhibitions. Chicago filmmakers Salome Chasnoff (Code of the Freaks) and Meredith Zielke (A Machine to Live In) will discuss their collaborative project Present Absence, a deeply moving five-channel video installation that honors the lives of people who were killed by Chicago Police. Based on interviews with family members, the installation invites viewers to sit down amongst the mourners to encounter those who were murdered not as cases or statistics but as full human beings.
Panel moderator: filmmaker and educator JP Sniadecki, Northwestern University
Community Conversation: What Do We Need?
When we recently surveyed filmmakers who had attended the first DOC CHICAGO gathering in 2019, many responded that they wanted to connect with other filmmakers in person, which is no surprise after the isolating experience of the pandemic. How do we move forward as a relatively fractured community of media artists? What do we need from each other as a community and individually? How can we contribute to making the documentary field more equitable and anti-racist? This facilitated discussion will include opportunities to speak to each other in smaller breakout groups. Our discussion will be facilitated by Akilah Martin, PhD, an educator and consultant, who hosts the podcast Roots Watering Hole.
When we recently surveyed filmmakers who had attended the first DOC CHICAGO gathering in 2019, many responded that they wanted to connect with other filmmakers in person, which is no surprise after the isolating experience of the pandemic. How do we move forward as a relatively fractured community of media artists? What do we need from each other as a community and individually? How can we contribute to making the documentary field more equitable and anti-racist? This facilitated discussion will include opportunities to speak to each other in smaller breakout groups. Our discussion will be facilitated by Akilah Martin, PhD, an educator and consultant, who hosts the podcast Roots Watering Hole.
DOC CHICAGO Short Film Showcase at Chicago Filmmakers
Join us for a thought-provoking collection of Chicago-produced short documentaries by both established and next generation filmmakers. Ranging from meditative works to reflections on the legacy of a slave revolt to a vibrant artist portrait, seniors looking for Stormy Daniels, and docs set in Chicago neighborhoods, this will be a great program to sample highly diverse short works by Chicago media makers.
Join us for a thought-provoking collection of Chicago-produced short documentaries by both established and next generation filmmakers. Ranging from meditative works to reflections on the legacy of a slave revolt to a vibrant artist portrait, seniors looking for Stormy Daniels, and docs set in Chicago neighborhoods, this will be a great program to sample highly diverse short works by Chicago media makers.
Featuring short films by Naeema Torres (Redacted), Cai Thomas and Ankur Singh (Last Slice), Lily Freeston (2020), Anna Lee Ackermann (As We Are Planted), Dan Rybicky (Stormy and the Admirals), Erin Babbin and Michael Sullivan (Ben LaMar Gay–Artist in Residence), Emeer Hassanpour (m is for motherhood), and Marilyn Oliva (Plantas Sin Fronteras). Q+A with the filmmakers followed the screening.
SUNDAY, NOV 7, 2021
Grant Writing Workshop
Documentary filmmakers have to be entrepreneurial when it comes to raising funds for their films. Although crowd funding and investments are increasingly playing a role in film financing, applying for grants remains a key ingredient for many docs. Tailoring your proposal for a specific funder, figuring out what goes into a budget, and where you can look for funding are all topics that will be covered in this grant workshop for documentary filmmakers. You’ll also have a chance to share and receive feedback on a logline that you’ve crafted.
The workshop was co-taught by documentary filmmaker and writer Julie Englander and filmmaker Ines Sommer, who teaches at Northwestern University. Julie is a producer on the documentary Punch 9 for Harold Washington, which recently premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. She has written numerous successful grant proposals for other filmmakers, enabling them to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for their projects. An ITVS panelist once called her grant writing “exemplary.” Ines has written numerous organizational and individual project grants, has served on several grants panels, and doesn’t mind talking about budgets.
Grant Writing Workshop
Documentary filmmakers have to be entrepreneurial when it comes to raising funds for their films. Although crowd funding and investments are increasingly playing a role in film financing, applying for grants remains a key ingredient for many docs. Tailoring your proposal for a specific funder, figuring out what goes into a budget, and where you can look for funding are all topics that will be covered in this grant workshop for documentary filmmakers. You’ll also have a chance to share and receive feedback on a logline that you’ve crafted.
The workshop was co-taught by documentary filmmaker and writer Julie Englander and filmmaker Ines Sommer, who teaches at Northwestern University. Julie is a producer on the documentary Punch 9 for Harold Washington, which recently premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival. She has written numerous successful grant proposals for other filmmakers, enabling them to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for their projects. An ITVS panelist once called her grant writing “exemplary.” Ines has written numerous organizational and individual project grants, has served on several grants panels, and doesn’t mind talking about budgets.
Chicago Underground Film Festival:
A Machine to Live In – Chicago premiere!
Doc Chicago co-presented the Chicago premiere of A Machine to Live In with the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), the longest running underground film fest in the world. Chicago filmmakers Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke’s A Machine to Live In (2021, Brazil, 80 min) is a hybrid documentary set in Brazil that links the cosmic power structures of the state to the mystical architecture of cults and utopian cities. This “sci-fi” documentary provides a complex portrait of life, poetry, and myth set against the backdrop of the space-age city of Brasília and a flourishing landscape of UFO cults and transcendental spaces. Watch the trailer here.
A Machine to Live In – Chicago premiere!
Doc Chicago co-presented the Chicago premiere of A Machine to Live In with the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), the longest running underground film fest in the world. Chicago filmmakers Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke’s A Machine to Live In (2021, Brazil, 80 min) is a hybrid documentary set in Brazil that links the cosmic power structures of the state to the mystical architecture of cults and utopian cities. This “sci-fi” documentary provides a complex portrait of life, poetry, and myth set against the backdrop of the space-age city of Brasília and a flourishing landscape of UFO cults and transcendental spaces. Watch the trailer here.