Getting people hooked on truth
THESSALONIKI – Since the first documentary she worked on – a collective project suppressed for many years in the US, about Vietnam veterans admitting war crimes – to her latest, «Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing,» celebrated filmmaker Barbara Kopple has brought tremendous enthusiasm and commitment to her work. And she is generous about sharing that enthusiasm with fellow practitioners and audiences. «I love documentaries,» she said, accepting an award at the 9th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TDF), where she was the chief honoree. «I am privileged and proud to part of this documentary community. It’s so important to have a community to lean on, learn from and celebrate with. None of us can do this alone.» She praised the TDF as «the festival of the future» and thanked the organizers for their support: «You have given documentarists a place to get together.» In her view, documentaries meet a need. «Documentaries can inspire people to debate and even to take action,» she said. «People are making documentaries about global warming, the human face of war, protecting our civil liberties. People want the truth; they want the information. Once they get it they get hooked and keep coming back for more.» Kopple is an expert at delivering the truth. She develops a close rapport with her subjects – be they Kentucky miners, Woody Allen or Mike Tyson – then steps back and lets them tell their stories. «Harlan County, USA,» the first documentary she made on her own, brought death threats from gun thugs hired by the mine owners to bring in strike breakers and her first Oscar (the second was for «American Dream»). Her film brought the miners wider recognition; they gave her inspiration, as so many of her subjects have. «They have inspired me to overcome challenges, pushed me to stand up for what is right,» she said. Meeting the public last Monday, Kopple talked about what subjects attracted her. «I love people. I love living with them; to follow them, to share their experiences.» Festival audiences had a chance to join her on some of those journeys. Two of her most recent works, «Wild Man Blues,» and «Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing,» co-directed with Cecilia Peck, exemplify recurrent themes in her oeuvre. There’s the love of music, the surprisingly intimate moments with high-profile subjects, and the feeling of real access to their worlds. With super-successful country music band the Dixie Chicks, there’s the political side, the extraordinary vilification and threats of violence that followed when their lead singer Natalie Maines announced in London that she was ashamed George Bush came from Texas. As Kopple later said: «The film is about watching them grow, being kicked in the face and coming back.» For «Wild Man Blues,» Woody Allen granted total access. Kopple put a wireless microphone on him and captured all the humor and the paranoia familiar from his screen personas in the course of a long European tour and at the start of his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. As big studios develop special branches for documentaries, Kopple spoke of «a renaissance» in the genre. Her own work is a beacon. Thessaloniki Documentary Festival awards More than 35,200 visitors had already viewed films at the Ninth Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival by the time of the awards ceremony on Saturday, artistic director Dimitris Eipides announced. The festival ended yesterday, after screening 236 films. The WWF award went to «Loop» (Norway) by Sjur Paulsen. The International Amnesty Award, in the Human Rights Section, went to «The Trials of Darryl Hunt» (USA) by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern. The FIPRESCI prizes for best foreign and Greek productions were won by «Souvenirs» (Israel), directed by Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, and «Secrets and Lies» by Stavros Stangos (Greece), respectively. The ERT-3 Audience Award for a foreign film under 45 minutes (with a prize of 2,000 euros) went to «The Blood of Yingzhou District» (China-USA) by Ruby Yang. The ERT-3 Audience Award for a Greek film under 45 minutes (2,000 euros) went to «School Wave» by Pavlos Tsiandos. The ERT-3 Audience Award for a foreign film over 45′ (3,000 euros) was won by «A Song for Argyris» (Switzerland) directed by Stefan Haupt. The ERT-3 Audience Award for a Greek production over 45′ (3,000 euros) went to the film «Play It Again, Christos,» directed by Stavros Kaplanidis. The 2007 EDN award went to Svetlana and Zoran Popovic for their contribution to building and supporting documentary culture in and around Belgrade and Serbia.
