Documentary Field Notes and Flashpoints: archive

Jean-Daniel Lafond The other day, as U.S. President Obama touched down in Ottawa, I asked my students at l’INIS, the Quebec Film school, a question. ‘Which documentary filmmaker will be meeting with Obama today?’ Puzzled looks, no answers. They asked for a lead. ‘OK, I said, he is also a French citizen.’ ‘Oh, of course,’ [...]

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, has won his most recent referendum, modifying the constitution so that elected officials – notably including himself – can be reelected for several terms. Is this good or bad ? Only the future will tell, but at least he submitted the change to a popular [...]

Wangari Maathai [Photo credit: Lisa Merton] One of the best films I saw at the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal last November was Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which won both the best documentary award in the ‘Eco-camera’ section and the audience award for the whole festival. The film documents the struggle [...]

A still from Laurent Catnet’s film The Class [original French title: Entre les murs] Have you noticed how many and how many recent fiction films look like documentaries, or are inspired by documentaries? I recently wrote about Milk – up for several Oscars – which borrows many scenes from the documentary The Times of Harvey [...]