doc it out » Books http://agnesvarnum.com watching, ranting and connecting with documentary film Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 AFF 08: This Dust of Words http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/10/25/aff-08-this-dust-of-words/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/10/25/aff-08-this-dust-of-words/#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:35:21 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/?p=565 Before computers, I read a lot. Joseph Campbell thought that stories are vital to human beings because they teach us about our own lives, and I’m definitely a learner. Since, I’ve gravitated to film and television as my primary story delivery method and I realized watching Bill Rose’s This Dust of Words, that I have forgotten the importance of the written story. Watching the film, I was transported to times in my life when books helped free my imagination.

The film is about Elizabeth Wiltsee, a free-spirited who lived a full but tumultuous life. Having taught herself to read at age 4, she was extremely intelligent and a voracious learner. She learned languages like ancient Greek in her teens, math, physics and was an exceptional student. Her own writing is read by a female voice with a British accent, which brings to mind exceptional writers like Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. We also hear from Elizabeth through her journals and family movies.

The title of the movie is taken from Wiltsee’s Stanford University senior thesis about Samuel Beckett, “full of minted thought” her then-professor recalls, but quite unlike anything other students were writing. It’s amazing to see Elizabeth in her Stanford days in a student film with David Chase (The Sopranos) and to wonder how high she might have soared. She was a stunning woman with amazing talent and admiration from those around her.  But even at that time, a dark cloud of mental illness was looming over her.

The film also follows Wiltsee through the stories and remembrances of friends and acquaintances, and it is  the unspooling of her story that helped me recall those days of imagination and books existing in and amongst the realism of daily life. Like in his previous work The Loss of Nameless Things, Rose brings the life and work of a writer into focus with exceptional cinematic poetry and keen sensitivity to the complexity of how imagination and realism exist at the same time. Both films are sad stories on an individual level, but they are sublimely human experiences.

I think the best movies help unleash the viewer’s imagination, thoughts and feelings, and this film, like Rose’s previous work, achieves that. Because it reminded me of things I’m glad to remember and because it is impeccably constructed and photographed, it was a true pleasure to watch.

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/10/25/aff-08-this-dust-of-words/feed/ 1 2-Year Anniversary: A New Sort of Meme http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/06/18/2-year-anniversary-a-new-sort-of-meme/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/06/18/2-year-anniversary-a-new-sort-of-meme/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:36:26 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/?p=483 We bloggers tend to get a little pensive as the years roll by; in such an ephemeral medium, it surprises even us that we somehow manage to continue. My anniversary coincides with . I started writing/self-publishing after becoming inspired at the festival a little over two years ago. So, my 2-year post comes a bit late, as I was waiting for the spirit to send inspiration, and funny, it came in the form of the Indigo Girls. Interesting that the Girls also inspired my very first blog post.

I’ve easily seen the Indigo Girls perform live on 8 or 9 occasions. I’ve been a fan since I dug their first album out of a discount bin when I was in 7th or 8th grade. They are the only band that has lasted with me so thoroughly over the years. When I go to their concerts, I feel a tinge of sadness. People assume that you have to be a lesbian to enjoy them, but to me, their music transcends such narrow labels. They are fantastic musicians–incorporating different instruments and musical styles; their lyrics are smart and meaningful; and they have great energy on stage, making live shows consistantly fun. Austin revealed its appreciation of the Girls at the show the other night with equal enthusiasm but the audience was still mostly lesbians and some straight girls with only a smattering of men.

Why am I going on about this? Their music, to me, is genre transcendent. You might not love to listen to them all the time, but if you really listen, I can’t believe that any music lover wouldn’t recognize their talent. This brings me to the aspect of this post.

I’m really irked that the most commented post on my in two years is a flame war, and I’d like to out-comment that post while at the same time connecting to my readers in a new way. Here’s the challenge: submit to me one book, movie, song, album, etc. that has made an impact on you and that you believe is genre transcendant and I will read, listen to, watch each and every one and write about it here. Yes, even if it is your own work! The only restriction is that the work has to be reasonably available. If not, you’ll have to help me out in getting a copy.

I can’t promise when I’ll get to it but I can promise that I will. I want to share art, discuss it and connect with people in new ways. That’s why I started doing this in the first place.

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2008/06/18/2-year-anniversary-a-new-sort-of-meme/feed/ 11 RIP Norman Mailer http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/12/rip-norman-mailer/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/12/rip-norman-mailer/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:04:31 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/12/rip-norman-mailer/

Dance as though no one is watching you,
Love as though you have never been hurt before,
Sing as though no one can hear you,
Live as though heaven is on earth.
Source Unknown

The Life of Norman Mailer
And if you’ve never read “Armies of the Night,” to please do yourself a favor. It is at once about what is best and worst in America.

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/12/rip-norman-mailer/feed/ 1 Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/01/documentary-film-a-very-short-introduction/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/01/documentary-film-a-very-short-introduction/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:58:58 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/01/documentary-film-a-very-short-introduction/ Pat Aufderheide, my mentor, friend and former boss, has recently released a new book! Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction “takes readers along the diverse paths of documentary history and charts the lively, often fierce debates among and scholars about the best ways to represent reality and to tell the truths worth telling.” You can read the table of contents and some chapter intros on the Center for Social Media website. “Drawing on the ’s four decades of experience as a film scholar and critic, this book is the perfect introduction not just for teachers and students but also for all thoughtful filmgoers and for those who aspire to make documentaries themselves.”

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/11/01/documentary-film-a-very-short-introduction/feed/ 0 Visible Evidence http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/04/05/visible-evidence/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/04/05/visible-evidence/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:25:42 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/04/05/visible-evidence/ I did an independent study in documentary film as an undergraduate, and my professor allowed me to choose my textbook. I chose Collecting Visible Evidence edited by Jane Gaines and Michael Renov. Well, neither my professor nor I were quite sure what to do with that book. The essays are dense, to say the least, and unfortunately I haven’t yet made it to a Visible Evidence conference to see if an in-person interaction with the folks who write these essays would prove more fruitful. But for theorizing documentary, this is were its at.

I just read via H-Film that Visible Evidence is launching a listserv that “aims to continue to grow the community by providing a forum on documentary images, sounds, and situations in film, television, on the internet, in journals, in museums, in galleries, and on billboards (to name just a few).” I’m not sure if anyone who reads this keeps their eye on the academic film community, but there is a lot of great stuff going on at conferences and in film writing, outside of festivals and the larger marketplace. If you wish to join the listserv, go here for directions.

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2007/04/05/visible-evidence/feed/ 2 Support WITNESS on ebay http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/12/07/support-witness-on-ebay/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/12/07/support-witness-on-ebay/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:25:16 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/12/07/support-witness-on-ebay/ At the risk of overposting today, I want to ask friends and colleagues to please /email/shout from the rooftops that WITNESS, the amazing human rights organization using video to prompt social change, is holding a fundraising auction on ebay. The items up for bidding are expensive so this is for those deep-pocketed music and art aficianados who are looking for that unique gift to give this holiday season. The auctions end on Monday, so don’t put it off.

For those without a need or budget for the big-ticket items, and since I’m on the topic of supporting this organization, WITNESS has an online store where you can pick up many of the videos they have produced. And for the social justice videographer or educator, WITNESS has produced the first and only of its kind that I know of, guide to making and using video in advocacy – Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism ($24.95). It is edited by the top in the field: Sam Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni, and Thomas Harding.

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/12/07/support-witness-on-ebay/feed/ 2 Some Books to Remember http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/10/06/some-books-to-remember/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/10/06/some-books-to-remember/#comments Fri, 06 Oct 2006 11:00:55 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/10/06/some-books-to-remember/ Yes, I spend a good portion of my life in front of the tube and screen, but my love is actually stories. To that end, I’ve done pretty well on a summer reading list (thank goodness for Borders buy 2 get 1 free!). I won’t review them all but here’s the list just in case anyone is interested or wants to discuss;-)

The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Wicked by Gregory Macuire
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (soon to be a movie, I believe)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (would be a great movie!)
The World According to Garp by John Irving
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
Transmission by Hari Kunzru

Yet on my list:

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (I saw the restored print of the film at NMAI and have wanted to read the book)
Four Spirits by Sara Jeter Naslun ( of my fav book Ahab’s Wife)

Not too shabby considering all of the movies I was watching for work!

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]]> http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/10/06/some-books-to-remember/feed/ 0 In Cold Blood http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/08/17/in-cold-blood/ http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/08/17/in-cold-blood/#comments Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:45:47 +0000 Agnes Varnum http://agnesvarnum.com/2006/08/17/in-cold-blood/ In Cold Blood by Truman CapoteIt’s not hard to get why Hollywood has become fascinated by the 1959 Clutter murder and subsequent covering of the case by Truman Capote taking form in In Cold Blood. The facts of the case are of the sort that agitates with equal measure curiosity and fear. Perry Smith, the triggerman who shot 4 members of the Clutter family during a nightmarish night robbing their home in a sleepy Kansas outpost, after his capture, conjured empathy in most that met him because of his sheer patheticness combined with charisma and sensitive intuition. He was disarming, to Truman, it seems, as well as members of law enforcement who dealt with him until his death by hanging. And though it is hard to feel too sympathetic given the detailed confession of the events, which are gruesome and terrifying, when I closed the cover, it was also impossible to feel that anybody won or even that justice had really been served.

If you haven’t see Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote, I recommend it. It is more about the man and his relationship to the story than about the crime. The book is far more disturbing but if you can stomach the details, the writing is amazing – I won’t review it because that is well-trodden territory. But the combination of the 2 stories got me thinking about documentary and the relationship of documentarian to his/her subject.

I assume that Capote is a well-researched film and it probably captured as much as is known about his long relationship to the case. Given his intense involvement, long hours spent in intimate discussion with nearly everyone material to it, I was astonished to see him not reference himself (almost entirely) in the book. Late in the book, there is a line said by Perry that is attributed to a “friend” of Perry’s – but since Perry had no friends but Capote and one who is named in other sections, that line must have been told to him. Later, Capote relates testimony by Hickock (the other murderer) as told to a “journalist who is permitted to visit from time to time” – again, it seems obvious it is Capote but he denies it by using 3rd person. If you saw the movie, you know that Capote nearly missed the execution, yet the scene is in the book and devoid of any clues that he had a stake in being there.

Mug ShotsWhat is perplexing me is that I can’t decide whether having an acknowledgment by the revealing his connection is material to the retelling of the Clutter’s murder. The style of the writing is to recount the story through the words of those who lived it, strung together and organized by Capote for maximum impact. It’s a brilliant work of literature; like a good film, his artistry heightens the experience (I found myself looking on the internet for photos of Smith and Hickock because I was seeing them as monsters in my head; I needed to see their human faces).

I’m also curious about the film version – it has Capote agonizing over the fact the Perry won’t admit or retell the story of what happened that night but in the book, Perry’s confession was taken by law enforcement on his extradition ride from Las Vegas back to Kansas. Capote keeps saying he can’t finish the book until he has the confession, but given his close relationship to Dewey, he would have had the confession. He might have wanted to hear it from Perry himself given their closeness, but that wouldn’t hold him up from completing the book. Unless he didn’t get the confession from Dewey, in which case, I wonder why the movie didn’t address that.

Maybe it’s the blossoming of personal documentary, or thinly veiled subjectivity in journalism these days, but I found myself put off by Capote’s denial of his role in the story. Was he simply an objective journalist? If he wasn’t, what part of the story is colored? I’m not sure any of it matters to the story he told, which is what is challenging my own notions. Could it be possible that in certain circumstances, objectivity is possible, even in those as extreme as In Cold Blood? Or at least that the story need not be colored by the ’s involvement?

This is something documentarians deal with every day and I don’t necessarily expect an answer but I’d welcome thoughts, or perhaps other stories that illuminate this issue.

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