Fast Talk tracks the Northwestern University debate team as it tries for a second consecutive championship while simultaneously examining why debaters now talk so fast and how their arguments are unintelligible and inconsequential to a non-debate audience. Clearly there are benefits to fast-talking--more arguments presented in a shorter amount of time. But is there a dark side? Has debate slowly morphed from an academic activity meant to train young minds to an activity meant to train winners regardless of whether or not they know how to communicate and/or form nuanced arguments? Regardless, as the film shows, there is much to admire about the present state of debate: Coach Scott Deatherage cares deeply about his team. The debaters are also very committed to their activity and very emotional about their losses.
Debra Tolchinsky, director of the MFA program in documentary media and associate professor of Radio-TV-Film at Northwestern University, is a documentary filmmaker and curator. Her work has been seen at such venues as the Sundance Film Festival, The John F. Kennedy Center, the Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Supreme Court Institute. As a curator, Debra co-curated The Horror Show at Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Shimon Attie: The Neighbor Next Doorat the Block Museum, and most recently The Presence of Absencesponsored by the Contemporary Arts Council. As a documentarian, she directed and produced the feature Fast Talk concerning college competitive debate. Fast Talk won Best Documentary at the LA Femme International Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, and has been spotlighted in theChicago Tribune, the National Law Journal, the Onion A.V. Club, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2015, Debra ranked No. 8 on New City's Film 50: Chicago Screen Gems. She is currently in production on a documentary concerning contaminated memory featuring Penny Beerntsen who mistakenly identified Steven Avery (Making a Murderer) as her assailant, resulting in Avery serving 18 years in prison. Debra joined the Northwestern University faculty in 2006 and won a Clarence Simon Award for Teaching Excellence in 2010.
