Posted by Larry Gleeson
The 33rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s (SBIFF) Documentary Filmmaking Educational Seminar, moderated by SBIFF Program Director Michael Albright, took place this morning in the Santa Ynez Valley Lounge at the Lobero Theatre courtyard. The Educational Seminars are open to the public and highlight key topics that are featured in the SBIFF sidebars and diverse film sections. The Santa Ynez Lounge is an intimate venue allowing for insightful conversations with filmmakers who are screening their films at the festival.
After a brief introduction Albright opened the conversation with a quote from Scottish filmmaker John Grierson, often considered the father of British documentary film, “Documentary film is the creative treatment of actuality.” One simple quote opened the gates for a stream of detailed information on how each panelist made their respective film, what they focused on any obstacles they faced that turned out to make their films better.
The panel included directors from BEARTREK (Chris Morgan ), GET THE WEED (Denny Brechner ), THE ISLAND (Adam Weingrod ), MODIFIED (Aube Giroux), SOUFRA (Thomas Morgan), WE ARE GALAPAGOS (Kum-Kum Bhavnani). Each director spoke at length about their work including how long it took to make the film, who was in the film and why an audience would want to watch the film. Two films were ten years in length from start to finish BEARTREK and MODIFEID, while GET THE WEED. a mockumentary came to fruition in a mere two weeks.
*Featured photo from left to right, Producer, Alfonso Guerrero (GET THE WEED), Director, Denny Brechner (GET THE WEED), Director Thomas Morgan (SOUFRA), Director Kum-Kum Bhavnani (WE ARE GALAPAGOS), Director Aube Giroux, (MODIFIED), Director Chris Morgan (BEARTREK), Director Adam Weingrod (THE ISLAND) and Moderator Michael Albright. (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
