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Story Archives of 'Documentary'
For The Love of Movies
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, November 19, 2009.Film critics are in trouble. The century-old profession grew up alongside cinema, and the thoughtful reviews and theoretical writings from high-profile critics shaped how we understand the movies. But as journalism struggles financially and more reviewers are getting laid off or fired, critics wonder what’s to come of their profession.
That’s where film critic Gerald Peary stepped in. He’s been writing about film for over 25 years, and has been a weekly columnist and reviewer for The Boston Phoenix since 1996. He’s now stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct a film about his colleagues.
It’s called For The Love of Movies, and it looks at the past, present, and future of film criticism. It screens tonight at The Music Hall in Portsmouth. We're joined by the film’s producer, Amy Geller, and writer and director Gerald Peary.
Boston Phoenix: Gerald Peary: No Respect?
Los Angeles Times: Roger Ebert: Back to the future of film criticism
Huffington Post: David Sterritt: Do Film Critics Have a Future? Who Cares?
Life In Hell: How To Be a Clever Film Critic
The Way We Get By
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
It’s two in the morning on a frigid day in Bangor, Maine. While most of the townsfolk are huddled under blankets, 86-year-old Bill Knight rubs his eyes, pulls on his boots, and heads to the airport.
Like most mornings, a planeload of soldiers is returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. They trudge off the plane in camouflage and boots and into the warmth of Bangor International Airport in Maine - the exit and entry point for the majority of troops deployed in the Middle East.
Bill is a World War Two veteran and knows what it’s like to come home. He’s on call 24 hours a day to make sure the troops get a proper welcome. He's one of a group of senior citizens who wake up before the crack of dawn to greet troops returning to U.S. soil with hugs and thanks and cell phones to make free calls home.
Filmmaker Aron Gaudet profiled three of them in the film "The Way We Get By," which airs this week on PBS's P.O.V. series. Aron joins us along with his mother, Joan Gaudet, a troop greeter who is featured in the film.
Power Paths
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.
Since the 1960s, power companies operating in the four corners area of the U.S. have run power lines over the Navajo and Hopi nations. The transmitters carry electricity to growing sunbelt cities, supplying nothing to people living just below -- many of whom live in darkened homes without the luxury of electricity.
In exchange for use of the land, water and sky, Southern California Edison and other companies paid millions of dollars in royalties to the tribes. That relationship ended in 2003, when the Black Mesa and Kayenta mines closed, along with the Mojave Desert Power Plant. Now American Indians are trying to transition away from fossil fuel power into clean energy.
The story of that transition against the tribal governance and established power companies is told in Power Paths, a film by Bo Boudart, which airs on PBS’ Independent Lens tonight. Steve Michelson is the films executive producer, and joins us with more as part of our "next green thing" series.
The Other Side of Immigration
By Laura Knoy on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.The new documentary “The Other Side of Immigration” tells the story of immigration entirely from the Mexican side of the border, from the towns the produce the highest amount of immigrants, the planning that happens before they begin to cross and the families who are left behind. Roy Germano joins us to talk about his new documentary and this less discussed side of the immigration issue.
Guest
- Roy Germano, producer, cinematographer and editor of the documentary “The Other Side of Immigration”
The Marketing of Desire
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
Female Sexual Dysfunction is a term of some debate, and not one frequently discussed on public radio. But its origins and the race to treat it are examined by filmmaker Liz Canner in a documentary called Orgasm, Inc.
Liz Canner was originally hired by a pharmaceutical company focused on creating a Viagra equivalent for women. That gig turned into a nine-year exploration of how female sexuality has been treated by the medical profession, and the origins –and profitability -- of disease. Liz Canner joins us with more, in advance of tonight’s screening at The Music Hall in Portsmouth.
The Greening of Southie
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, September 17, 2009.
We’ve heard a lot about efforts to boost our sagging economy and revive the manufacturing sector with green-collar jobs. But if sustainable and energy efficient systems are going to get built properly, it’s blue-collar workers who need to be on board.
A green-collar job is a lot like a blue-collar job, except that workers incorporate the principles of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Take the union stronghold of construction. The EPA ranks construction as the nation’s most wasteful industry by far, which makes eco-friendly development sound like a contradiction, or a massive undertaking. Raising a green building in the working-class neighborhood of south boston introduces other challenges. The documentary The Greening of Southie chronicles Boston’s first residential green building – the Macallen – and the workforce that set out to construct the “city of tomorrow.” "The Greening of Southie" is coming to Red River Theatres in Concord tomorrow night and runs through next week. I spoke with the director, Ian Cheney, when the film was first released, and asked him how he came across this unusual project.
The Greening of Southie at Red River Theatres in Concord
(Photo by Taylor Gentry)
No Impact Man
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.In March of 2007, The New York Times ran a story called “The Year Without Toilet Paper,” about Colin Beavan, Michelle Conlin and their daughter Isabella. Almost instantly, No Impact Man was thrust into the spotlight.
Colin and his wife decided to live for a year generating as little waste as possible. They avoided carbon-fueled transportation and shopped for nothing other than food which was grown within a 250-mile radius of their East Village apartment. Eventually they stopped using electricity all together, in a kind of 9th floor walk-up version of Walden Pond.
The Times profile generated a stream of critics and some defenders. Colin’s year, and his blog from the time inspired the book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries he Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. A documentary film rolls out in U.S. cities this month.
As part of our "next green thing" series, Colin Beavan joins us to talk about his experiment and whether it's possible for one family to truly make a difference.
Mapping Main Street
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.
As last year's election drew close and the economy plummeted, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama battled it out over helping Main Street versus Wall Street. The phrase "Main Street" became not-so-secret political code for the middle class. But it also evoked a certain mythology, of a golden age of small-town American community.
Two Peabody Award-winning radio producers, Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler, were intrigued by what people meant when they talked about Main Street. After all, there are 10,466 of them across the country. Along with media artist Jesse Shapins and economist James Burns, the four loaded up a Subaru station wagon for a 12,000-mile summer-long road trip to talk to people about their Main Streets.
The radio series is airing on NPR's Weekend Edition, and the Mapping Main Street website has attracted photographs, videos, and stories from people across the country. Ann Heppermann and Kara Oehler join us with more.
The Solitary Life of Cranes
By Avishay Artsy on Friday, August 28, 2009.High above the city, crane drivers have a bird's-eye view of the hustle and bustle of urban life. From their perch, they are removed from the city as they build it. They imagine the lives of strangers as they observe their daily routines. They sit mostly in silence as they take in the patterns and hidden secrets of the city.
Six String Nation
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, August 3, 2009.
Schoolchildren in the U.S. are taught about the pilgrims and pioneers who persevered through hardship and fought unruly natives to settle this country. We learn about the huddled masses stirred together in a great melting pot, as if we invented immigration.
Our single-minded concept of "a real American" excludes our neighbors to the south, and the north. Many Canadians are more circumspect over just what "Canadian-ness" is. Canadians tend to look more critically at the genocide of "first nations" people, at identity, at sovereign populations and policies. From this tentative nationalism comes Six String Nation, an idea, a book, a website and one composite guitar making its way across Canada.
Jowi Taylor is Peabody Award-winning broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He came up with the idea for Six String Nation in 1995, on the eve of a referendum for Quebec’s sovereignty. The guitar was crafted by luthier George Rizsanyi and made its debut eleven years later, in 2006. Jowi Taylor joins us with more about this project, which reflects an ongoing quest for Canadian identity.
View the guitar from Six String Nation
(Photo by quartertonality via Flickr/Creative Commons)
