Docs as agents for social change

Fund to expand fest's commitment to non-fiction films

By KATHY A. MCDONALD

Advocating social change via digital video and film, Sundance 2002 documentarians see themselves as artists with a cause. To paraphrase Bertolt Brecht, they have "reached for the camera; it is a weapon," contends Nicole Guillemet, the fest's co-director and VP of the Sundance Institute. "Documentary films are more than just educational or entertaining, these stories are crucial."

With this ideal in mind, the institute has expanded its commitment to doc filmmakers and later this year will begin direct funding through the Sundance Documentary Fund (formerly the Soros Documentary Fund).

From Friday-Jan. 19, the base camp for docmakers at the festival will be the House of Docs on lower Main Street. There they can schmooze with funders, attend panels and partake in receptions for nonfiction-friendly arts organizations such as the Center for Social Media.

"When people leave Sundance, they should have inspiration as well as contacts," says Guillemet.

One panel will explore the role of filmmaker as activist, as exemplified by the issues explored by many of this year's competition films such as "The Execution of Wanda Jean," which examines one woman's death by lethal injection.

Filmmaker as conduit

Liz Garbus, the film's director-producer, sees herself as "a conduit so more people can experience and be affected by her story and the problem." The feature will screen publicly for the first time at the festival on the anniversary of the execution of Allen, convicted of murdering her lover and sentenced to death.

Filmmakers Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold investigate the human and environmental cost of the common plastic PVC (polyvinyl chloride) in "Blue Vinyl." The combination of humor and animation make this doc anything but preachy.

"We tried to juxtapose the human face against the toxic soup we live in," says Helfand.

Providing resources for viewers has been a goal of the co-directors of "Close to Home," which reveals the emotional and psychological toll of childhood sexual abuse. "Doing docs is my way of doing social work," says the film's producer/director Vanessa Roth "But the film has to have some backup to it to hopefully make some progressive changes."

"Close to Home" was funded by slugger Mark McGwire's Foundation for Children. Raising awareness on such a personal, secretive and sensitive issue is not easy. "The film is watchable but not sugar coated; the reality of what happens is put out there," says Alexandra Dickson, producer/director and executive director of the McGwire Foundation who promises literature and helplines after the feature's screenings.

Outreach events are also planned in conjunction with the screenings of Whitney Dow and Marco Williams' "Two Towns of Jasper," which will air later this year on PBS' "P.O.V." Using two racially segregated crews, the filmmakers captured Jasper, Texas' response to the trials of three alleged members of the Aryan Circle charged with brutally murdering James Byrd Jr., an African-American.

Given the hot-button topic of racial profiling in relation to world events, the feature seems tellingly relevant. "Race has been an American problem since the country's inception," points out Marco Williams. "A real result of our film is that it enables people to speak candidly and honestly about race."

Fest programmers say they seek documentary features that are more than just educational, ones that grip audiences with the drama of real life.

Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco's "Daughter from Danang" plays out like a work of fiction as dreams collide with reality in this tale of cultural dissonance and alienation. Grounded in the Vietnam War, the doc shows the personal and private ramifications of war, 20 years after the fact.

"I try to create intimate films that broaden people's understanding of diversity and often challenge narrowly held views about cultures, sense of self, or realities in the world," says Dolgin, whose film was partially funded by ITVS and will air on PBS in 2003.

With perhaps the most outspoken, bawdy, dramatic protagonist of any Sundance doc, "Sister Helen," from producers/directors Rob Fruchtman and Rebecca Cammisa, chronicles the story of social activist Sister Helen Travis, who changed her life at age 56 and established a home in the Bronx for recovering addicts and alcoholics.

Even as the feature is completed, post-production and festival promotion is still a consuming project for the filmmakers, who are "running on fumes." Says Cammisa of the filmmakers' labor of love: "It's a story worth telling. We were willing to sacrifice and the public response is the pay off; it's what makes it worthwhile."