Our October was enriched by the Human Rights Film Series, which wraps this week—read more about it below. We are looking forward eagerly to November 18, when the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement on Best Practices in Fair Use will be released. And don’t forget to sign up for the Making Your Documentary Matter workshop in January—last year more than 150 people waited until too late. We hope to see you there or at another of our activities soon.

FAIR USE AND FREE SPEECH
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS’ STATEMENT ON BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE RELEASED!

Press conference AU Washington College of Law, Room 602 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC

We hope you will join us when the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement on Best Practices in Fair Use is released officially on November 18—a landmark day for doc filmmakers’ freedom of expression. This longstanding project of The Center and the Program on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (PIPPI) at the Washington College of Law addresses the strangling of creativity in documentary.

Documentary filmmakers have all too often found their creative work hobbled by unnecessarily harsh copyright clearance practices. One of the most troubling areas is fair use, as the Center’s report Untold Stories. Fair use is the legal use of other people’s copyrighted work without permission or payment—in certain circumstances. Fair use ensures that freedom of speech survives, even though usually copyright holders have the right to control use of their material. All too often, filmmakers have been told that fair use is “unusable” because “nobody” knows how to interpret it for documentary practice.

Now, in consultation with the Center and PIPPI, and informed by the Center’s report, filmmakers have taken the initiative to change their environment. Five leading filmmaker organizations have created a set of principles that make public shared professional understandings of when and how to invoke fair use.

On November 18, filmmakers such as Gordon Quinn (Hoop Dreams; New Americans), David Van Taylor (With God on Our Side; A Perfect Candidate; Attica), Katy Chevigny (Deadline), Academy Award-winning Gerardine Wurzburg and others will be joined by representatives of the five signatory organizations: Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Independent Feature Project, International Documentary Association, National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, and Women in Film and Video (Washington, D.C., chapter). As well, representatives of some public broadcasting and educational organizations will be present to pledge their use of the Statement. Finally, three new cash prizes for films employing fair use will be announced.

Printed versions of the statement will be available at the event and on the website November 18, 2005. Learn more>>

6th Annual HUMAN RIGHTS FILM SERIES - LAST EVENT!

HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA presented by Sam Gregory of WITNESS. Followed by book launch for VIDEO FOR CHANGE: A GUIDE FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM.

Thursday, November 3 at 6 pm Wechsler Theatre, Mary Graydon Center, AU Main Campus

The human rights media group WITNESS is a great example of using video in partnerships where media can really make a difference. It’s also a little lab of creative solutions to the problem of making and using media effectively. For both of those reasons, we’re delighted that WITNESS’ work in Burma will be the subject of our last session in the Human Rights Film Series.

This collection of short videos showcases the best of WITNESS’s latest strategies in exposing human rights abuses under Than Shwe and the SPDC’s brutal military dictatorship in Burma. Sam Gregory, program manager for WITNESS, will present the films. Following the screening Thursday, November 3rd join us for a special celebration of VIDEO FOR CHANGE, WITNESS’S new book for activists on making videos for human rights and social justice. It is a hands-on manual packed with technical know-how for making and distributing social issue films. Books will be available for sale in the lobby of the Wechsler Theatre. Learn more>>

At the Virginia Film Festival, filmmakers, film buffs, professors and students attended a workshop on Free Speech and Fair Use. Center director Aufderheide and Professor Peter Jaszi provided forum participants with a preview of the principles in the Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use.

Three filmmakers discussed the crucial role of fair use in their projects. Byron Hurt showed clips from his forthcoming Beyond Beats and Rhymes, a critique of machismo in hip-hop culture. Hurt argued that without fair use of popular music and music video, Hurt would not even be able to make his argument. David Williams (Thirteen) showed clips from a forthcoming documentary, where Barbie dolls-turned-artwork, a a Madonna song played at a wedding and a picture of Elvis Presley all posed fair use challenges. All of Williams’ examples fell under the fair use umbrella as defined in the statement. Keith Beauchamp (The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till) had to depend on favors and lucky breaks in clearing material for his pathbreaking film, but the Statement would now free him to invoke fair use when he needed to.

The Center hosted four visiting filmmakers and photographers in October. AU students and friends of the Center had an opportunity to see the work and hear first-hand these outstanding artists’ methods, strategies, and vision in making media for social change and enlightment. Here are some of the highlights of those visits by Jos de Putter of the Netherlands (The Damned and the Sacred); Peter Kinoy and Paco de Onis of Skylight Pictures (State of Fear); and Magnum photographer Paul Fusco.

JOS DE PUTTER – Visiting Filmmaker Jos de Putter was honored by the National Gallery of Art Film Series, “Dutch Visions” in September and October. AU students screened his documentary The Damned and the Sacred. In the documentary, de Putter returns to Chechnya, a year after The Making of a New Empire, and follows a traditional youth dance group as they prepare for a European tour. His transcendent portrait of the group and its mentor shows how dance quickly becomes their life, despite the trauma of growing up in a country at war.

“Many people think that in documentary we see reality,” said de Putter. “We don’t. We see film first. An image is not a reality- it is reality being told. There is no such thing as a transparent window on reality, not even in our eyes and brains. A camera starts rewriting reality as soon as you push the button. A camera creates an image which means it molds certain fragments of reality into an image. At that moment reality becomes something else- it becomes an image and therefore it becomes a story. Documentary filmmaking is not presenting reality- it’s a way of storytelling, always.”

PETER KINOY and PACO DE ONIS (Photo by Vera Lentz) (October 5-7, 2005) - Filmmakers Peter Kinoy and Paco de Onis spoke about “Fear, Truth and the Documentary” with the backdrop of their film State of Fear as a part of the Human Rights Film Series this October.

Kinoy and Onis discussed documentary production and storytelling techniques. Their feature- length documentary, State of Fear, tells the story of how the Shining Path guerrilla movement in Peru led to military occupation and government corruption in the name of protection from terrorists. The film also tackles the world-wide problem of stability in the face of terror. Using clips from their film, the filmmakers gave practical advice about filmmaking from their own personal experiences making this documentary.

“The reason that we make these films is that we feel that there is a very important and critical place for social issue documentaries in the health of a democracy,” said Kinoy. “The stories we were hearing in Peru and in the period that the truth commission was examining were about a war on terror, and this had incredible relevance to what was happening up here in the United States. This story is not just about Peru, this is a story about humanity.”

PAUL FUSCO - Magnum photographer, Paul Fusco spoke Thursday, October 20 to a packed audience as part of the Center’s Camera as Catalyst lecture series. The first part of his presentation showcased a variety of his work, ranging from Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train, and the effects of the Chernobyl explosion on the children and adults of Belarus to his most recent work on the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Fusco addressed questions about the ethical issues of photographing extremely difficult subject matter. “It’s a feeling first, I saw it. It’s true. I felt it,” he said. For Paul Fusco, photographs work like words in a sentence. A photo series has a theme and structure that relate. “I’m going to take you on a trip. And you’re going to come out where I want you to come out.”

The second MAKING YOUR DOCUMENTARY MATTER workshop featuring experts and examples of partnerships between film producers and nonprofits, distribution strategies, and outreach for action. Speakers include Orlando Bagwell (Ford Foundation), Joy Thomas Moore (Annie E. Casey Foundation), Ellen Schneider (ActiveVoice), Robert West (Working Films), and Robert Lavelle (Roundtable) among others. The workshop will include morning and afternoon panels, networking opportunities, and a keynote address – “It’s Not Marketing, It’s Not Publicity! It’s Public Engagement” – delivered by Cynthia Lopez, of the PBS series P.O.V. American Documentary. Space is limited, register today. Or email socialmedia @american.edu for more information.

The Center's project on the Future of Public Media, funded by the Ford Foundation, was launched with an article, "What Makes Pubcasting 'Public' Is Engagement" by Pat Aufderheide and Noelle McAfee in Current, the magazine that serves public broadcasting. The article argues, "What makes public media essential is that they treat people as members of the public, as active learners in and builders of our own society. They honor the promise of American democracy—that people can assert themselves not only as individuals but also, if they work with others, as decision-makers and mobilizers of the public will. They respect this capacity in the people who use and contribute to their services. Public media are at the heart of a democratic society." Read the article>>

Sound Partners for Community Health has launched the premiere issue of “Local Voices,” a new, multimedia, online publication at www.soundpartners.org to showcase some of the best examples of what its grantees have accomplished.

What can a small community do about the rise in childhood obesity? In this first edition of “Local Voices,” you’ll see and hear Linda Dielman, WCMU-TV’s Program/Outreach Manager, describe Mt. Pleasant, Michigan’s campaign to improve the health of preschoolers. Healthy Weight in Preschool Children: Way to Go! Weigh to Grow! supports families and daycare providers to choose healthier food and regular exercise for toddlers. This issue also spotlights the innovative social marketing techniques that contribute to the success of many Sound Partners’ projects.

Check out the first edition of "Local Voices" now! Go>> Sound Partners links public broadcasters and communities to solve local health problems.