Day 1: All Alone at Silverdocs

Cards on the table, this is the first film festival I’ve attended, let alone covered. Granted, I’ve been to multi-day festivals before, but the film festival seems a unique beast. So perhaps I should sketch for you a few things that caught my attention.

For starters, the rules and strategy of queuing must be followed. Having a regular “Industry” pass like mine means that I get no priority seating, and the rules stipulate that such plebian attendees as myself must be seated 15 minutes prior to showings. I somehow don’t believe this rule is enforced, but I haven’t chanced breaking it so far. Those rules are complicated by the long lines of regular ticketholders (non-pass holders) that stack up early, especially for buzz films. The coalescence of these facts means that you may have to spend a 45 minutes waiting in line to ensure that you get at seat. And if a film is being shown only an hour after the one you’re currently watching finishes, well then come dinnertime you may just have to sate your rumbling stomach with a bag of popcorn and some peanut M&Ms (for the extra protein, of course).

To be sure, a far more noteworthy feature are the badges themselves. There are myriad levels—Industry, Student, Filmmaker, Director/Producer, Jury, Sterling All-Access, Press—and they all have some cutesy phrase which plays on MPAA terminology. The Industry badge, for example, reads, “PERVASIVE FILM AND TV EXPERIENCE, EXPLICIT INSIDER KNOWLEDGE.” You get the point. Since we must wear them to be admitted to events, it becomes quite easy to see any patterns that certain pass statuses exhibit.

It’s tough to say how each person received the status he or she has, but what became clear quite soon is that such differences stand for all the different reasons people come to this festival. Filmmakers (identified by an FM) come for the piece they have in competition, but their participation otherwise is aimed at the workshops, finding inspiration, and getting insider tips. They’re as eager to learn from the likes of Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and Tom Haneke (won three Best Editing Oscars) as they are to impress their peers during Q&A sessions. They’re quick to help out the staff when tech issues plague events, and they ask technical questions about film stock and editing choices. Therefore, these are the things they seem most attuned to in the screenings.

Others, namely producers (also I), come looking for films or filmmakers to throw money at. I haven’t seen one ask a question yet. Little more need be said, other than their presence is not particularly imposing, and that’s good enough for me.

Others still seem to be here for the pure the fun of it. They’re not necessarily involved in the screenings, and they make their selections based largely on convenience. These people often buy tickets rather than passes, making them just as easily identifiable. They’re not particularly familiar with all the intricacies of documentary filmmaking, but they appreciate a good story. Thus, they tend to ask content-related questions, some of which are insightful, some of which level criticisms that are ultimately unfair when considering the practical matters with which documentary filmmakers must contend. Such was an older woman in front of me in line for Page One. It was her fifth year coming and her fifth film of the day, but she couldn’t tell you what she saw beforehand.

Further groups include students (ST) and volunteers (V), who get access to screenings, but still must buy tickets. To be sure, many people, probably myself included, rest on the cusp of these and other general categories. But the sheer fact that these classes exist and are easily observable give the festival a bit more of a clinical feel. There is not the same kind of collective experience at work that one gets at other festivals, because one understands that everyone is off searching for different things. Of course, it’s hard to have Bonaroo’s camaraderie without Bonaroo’s mud and insularity. But that that doesn’t affect the feeling that, despite the giddiness that accompanies the ability to walk into movie after movie by simply flashing a badge, Silverdocs is less about the experience itself and more about the individual films and classes you attend.

And what films and classes did I attend? Well, since it was my first day, not a whole lot. I started at a master class entitled “Editors, the True Storytellers?” which was, despite a few technical issues, truly interesting. Four documentary editors came together to talk about problematic scenes they worked on and how through editing changes they were able to not only solve those problems but also create a better, more compelling story.

I then screened two films—one good, the other excellent. The good one was Andrew Rossi’s Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times. The film details the economic problems faced by all newspapers generally and the Times specifically. It was at times compelling, at other times slightly unfocused, and fair to its subjects throughout. Journalist David Carr, as indefatigable as he is fun to watch, was a clear standout character. It’s played at other festivals, including Sundance, and its press is lively, so expect this one to make its way to multiplexes in or around a city near you.

The superior documentary was Steven James’ latest project, The Interrupters, on which he worked with writer Alex Kotlowitz. The film focuses on a group of men and women (mostly men) in Chicago who work for the Violence Interrupters program of an organization named CeaseFire. Their specific duties include intervening in situations in which it seems likely that youth violence will arise. It is a somewhat dangerous, and at times incredibly trying, job.

This film is not always easy to watch, and it is certainly not easy to listen to everything we are told. And for that reason, there are many people who will deal with it by pitying those onscreen and subsequently rewarding themselves for being so sympathetic. Resist that urge. James is supportive of his cast, and the stories we hear are enthralling. But his product is relentlessly ambivalent about the prospects of those onscreen. Some will make good, others won’t. Some will live; others will probably die. It is a film that cannot be properly dealt with in the limited space I have here. So I’ll leave it with the following: please see this movie.