DOCUMENTARY DEVELOPMENT RECAP

Apr, 04, 2022

In case you missed it… Rewatch our recent panel discussion about Documentary Development with Daresha Kyi (Mama Bears) and Iliana Sosa (What We Leave Behind). Moderated by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan (Águilas).

You can watch the video HERE.

Daresha Kyi

Twitter | Instagram | Website | Mama Bears

“Stories have the power to move people in unexpected ways. When viewers identify strongly with the characters portrayed in movies, they can be inspired to take similar actions in their own lives, especially when those characters are real people. They think, “If she can do it, I can too!””

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Iliana Sosa

Twitter | Instagram | Website | What We Leave Behind

“I would encourage emerging filmmakers to not wait for someone to give you permission to go out and start filming something that interests you, even if it means borrowing a camera. I think it’s important to also not be so precious in trying to make a perfect film. The beauty of documentary lies in its imperfections and capturing everyday life as we know it.”

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Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

Instagram | Website | Águilas

“Love your topic, you are kind of married to it, you need to find it imminently interesting to talk about because you spend years of your life on it.”

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Recommended Reading

A Question of Ethics: The Relationship Between Filmmaker and Subject by Wanda Bershen

Documentarian Kristy Guevara-Flanagan by Erin Prather Stafford

Finding the Storyline in a Documentary Short written by Paula Bernstein

How Close is Too Close? A Consideration of the Filmmaker-Subject Relationship by Lisa Leeman

Moms Who Love LGBTQ Kids Create “Mama Bears” Documentary by Drew Howard

Navigating the River: The Hidden Colonialism of Documentary by Edwin Martinez

POV vs. Objectivity by Assia Boundaoui

The Documentary Future: A Call for Accountability by Sonya Childress & Natalie Bullock Brown

Structuring a Documentary Narrative written by Ken Burns

Understanding Narrative Structure in Documentary written by Jennifer Peedom

‘What We Leave Behind’ Was the Surprise Masterpiece of SXSW by Cat Cardenas

When Perspective Unseats Objectivity in Documentary Filmmaking by Sabaah Folayan

When Reality Meets Narrative written by Tamara Krinsky

Whose Story? Five Doc-Makers on (Avoiding) Extractive Filmmaking by Lauren Wissot

Who Is Telling Whose Story, To Whom, and Why? Lisa Valencia-Svensson