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Virtual reality brought me into the world of a strong Roma woman

What did I know about Roma? Like many people, my assumptions came from films. Beautiful ones, like the documentaries Toto and his Sisters and Spartacus and Cassandra. Both films take you into a world of Roma through adolescents and those trying to help them move out of their stifling situation. These stories show Roma as poor and “gypsies”, who live among drug use and petty crime or wear colorful clothes and perform in circuses.

When we started to think about making a virtual reality film about Roma, it was with the idea to transcend these clichés. Roma face tremendous discrimination across Europe. Could we make people feel a connection to Roma, to transcend their perceptions and engage on a personal level? And without resorting to stereotypes?

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…originally published for UNDP Eurasia

The State of the Short? (Part 2: $)

docnyc2So you made a short documentary – now what? Who’s going to pay you for it?  Or, you have a great idea for a short – who can you get to pay you to make it?

DOCNYC’s “All About the Short” day of panels included discussions of content, style, and new platform possibilities, but the audiences displayed the most hunger for information surrounding how to get paid for short documentaries.  The second panel of the day (“Who’s Buying?”) focused on this issue, although the subject was also raised during the general panel.  People are clearly interested in how to leverage this new zeitgeist of short filmmaking and what options exist for funding.

“Who’s Buying?,”moderated by director/producer Trish Dalton, presented the perspectives of folks in the corporate, online sphere – Sarah Lash (Acquisitions) and Jed Weintrob (VP Production) for Conde Nast and Dan Silver (Director of Development) and Andrew Jenks (filmmaker) for ESPN.

I never would have expected that the most creative approach to short docs would be coming from ESPN, but Silver impressed me with his interest in finding good stories and collaborating with filmmakers.  ESPN has gained recognition for its 30 for30 series.  While one might write off the ESPN avenue as being only for popular sports, he indicated that they’re interested in all sports (even something obscure or amateur) and are also developing data-driven films (for 538) and pop culture films (for Grantland).  Most important for him were story and execution.  And passion.  “I’m interested in giving people starts, to nurture filmmaking.”  They don’t buy short documentaries so much, but produce and distribute a lot.  “We collaborate with filmmakers to see what the project is together.”

 

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