THESE BIRDS WALK opens on Friday, Nov. 1 at Village East Cinema in New York City.
If you’re here because you’ve heard about THESE BIRDS WALK and are trying to figure out if you want to watch it, let me save you the trouble. Just go see it. In addition to being a lovingly crafted example of an observational documentary, THESE BIRDS WALK is also a nuanced window into the lives of several people in Karachi, Pakistan, a part of the world that is too often to subjected to the sort of drive-by journalism that leaves Western audiences with a reductive and cartoonish view of the country’s people. Further, directors Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq have delivered a much needed rebuke to journalist Nicolas Kristoff’s problematic rationale for the use of “bridge characters”–usually white or Western subjects whose presence is intended to give viewers of a similar background an empathic jumping off point for documentary work set in a world that’s unfamiliar to them.
Tariq and Mullick began their film with the intent to tell the story of the revered humanitarian figure Abdul Satar Edhi. However, Edhi’s soft resistance to documentation eventually led them to instead focus on several runaways who had sought shelter in Karachi at the Edhi Foundation, along with an ambulance driver who is compelled to help them despite his financial impulses to the contrary. I spoke with Tariq recently on audience expectations, the use of music as a tool for manipulation, and other subjects.
THESE BIRDS WALK starts a theatrical run on Friday, Nov. 1 at Village East Cinema, and Tariq and Mullick will be in attendance at all of the screenings this weekend, beginning with the one at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Stranger Than Fiction: You have a pretty varied background–I know you work in advertising and you’ve been a contributor to Boing Boing. You created a “transmedia” project called 30 Days/30 Mosques and another called 30 Days Ramadan. What made you want to take a more linear documentary approach to THESE BIRDS WALK?
Bassam Tariq: The funny thing is that THESE BIRDS WALK was in production or in pre-production before any of that stuff had happened. When I first came to New York I was just working in advertising. I think within a year I had the idea of making this film. The way film works–it just takes forever to get through one. You end up doing so many other things as you’re working on it. I think that’s the one thing I’ve realized, I can’t just do one thing. Some people focus on just one film, and it becomes their life. And that’s what ended up happening in post-production for us, we ended up just working on the film. But it’s very emotionally taxing as well because after you’re done with the film, if you don’t get the reception that you were looking for it’s really devastating. I think it’s hard not to have high expectations–or expectations at all–when you work on something. I think the best way to not have them is to have multiple projects going.
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The nominees for the Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced this week. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine covered the nominated docs, while Peter Knegt covered both fictional and documentary nominees for Indiewire. Craig Phillips noted the Independent Lens films that snagged noms in a post at the show’s blog, and Christopher Campbell covered the announcement for Nonfics.com. Jennifer Merin also had the news at About.com.
Directer Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s film BLACKFISH aired on CNN last week. At The Wrap, Tim Kenneally reported that the film captured a key news demographic, as did Gregory Crofton of Channel Nonfiction. Writing for Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell covered a response to the film released by Seaworld prior to the CNN airing. Alison Willmore of Indiewire interviewed Cowperthwaite, and Cowperthwaite herself held a Reddit AMA.
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Christopher Campbell posted a piece detailing the evolution of Jehane Noujaim’s film THE SQUARE on Egypt’s revolution. At Indiewire, Bryce J. Renninger explained the differences in versions of the film that played at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival. A.O. Scott reviewed the film at The New York Times, and Anthony Kaufman examined it in his weekly Docutopia post at the SundanceNOW blog. In his Filmwax podcast, Adam Schartoff spoke with Noujaim and producer Kamir Amer, along with WHEN I WALK director Jason DaSilva and STRONGMAN director Zachary Levy. And Christopher Campbell and Daniel Walber discussed THE SQUARE and the Robert Drew classic CRISIS: BEHIND A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT in their latest The Realness podcast.
This week Stranger Than Fiction plays host to BORN INTO BROTHELS from directors Ross Kaufman and Zana Briski on Oct. 29 at 8pm at the IFC Center. Following the screening, Kaufman will be in attendance for a Q&A. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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This year's DOC NYC festival runs Nov. 14-21 in New York City.
The DOC NYC film festival, set to run Nov. 14-21 at the IFC Center and the SVA Theatre, this week announced its lineup, with this year’s event consisting of 131 films, 72 features, and some 20 panel discussions and master classes. Ramzi de Coster at Indiewire had all the details, while Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen highlighted new films from Michel Gondry and Errol Morris that would make appearances. Kate Erbland had coverage of the festival for Film School Rejects, while Basil Tsiokos penned a post at his What (Not) to Doc blog. Gordon Cox provided coverage at Variety, while Adam Schartoff spoke with DOC NYC (and Stranger Than Fiction) Artistic Director Thom Powers for a Filmwax podcast.
This week AMERICAN PROMISE from directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson hit theaters on Friday. At the POV blog, Tom Roston looked at AMERICAN PROMISE as part of a pantheon of doc films that follow their subjects for a long period of time. At Filmmaker Magazine, Brandon Harris spoke with Brewster and Stephenson on the film, and Adam Schartoff also dedicated one of his Filmwax podcasts to speaking with the pair.
Chicago production house Kartemquin Films this week issued a call for participants in its Diverse Voices in Docs program, which provides professional development and mentorship to emerging documentary filmmakers of color. They’ll also be hosting a screening of work from graduates of its inaugural 2013 program on October 30 in Chicago.
This week Stranger Than Fiction plays host to THE NEW PUBLIC from director Jyllian Gunther, a film that follows an arts-focused high school that opens in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The film screens on Tuesday, October 22 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan, and will be followed by a Q&A with Gunther. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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The short film SLOMO from director Josh Izenberg was one of several shorlisted for the Oscar this week.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) this week named the short docs named to their shortlist. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times covered the news, as did Jon Weisman of Variety. At Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell had the vitals on the films on the shortlist.
Realscreen’s Adam Benzine reported on the lineup at this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Writing for DocGeeks, Alexandra Zeevalkink zeroed in on the IDFA offerings from the National Film Board of Canada. IDFA’s DocLab also announced details on the interactive titles selected for the festival,
In a thoughful piece at Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell contemplated docs that could be construed as platforms for an evil ideology. Campbell’s piece was, at least in part, a response to a critical review of THE ACT OF KILLING from About.com writer Jennifer Merin.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of Andrew Jarecki’s 2003 film CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS on Tuesday, October 15 at 8pm at the IFC Center in Manhattan. The film follows the story of a Long Island family torn apart by accusations of child molestation. Director Andrew Jarecki will be in attendance for a Q&A following the film. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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In a writing for the Huffington Post, director Charles Ferguson announced that he was withdrawing from a planned documentary on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for CNN Films, citing indirect pressure from the Clintons and stonewalling among potential interviewees and others. James Hiler covered the development for Indiewire, while Christopher Campbell did the same for Nonfics.com. Adam Benzine had the news at Realscreen, and Daniel Goldblatt was on the story for Variety. Amy Chozick and Bill Carter reported on the story for the New York Times.
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