2013 Panels and Master Class Workshops
Panel Discussions are a great opportunity to go behind the films and get an intimate understanding of films and filmmakers. Each of the panels/workshops is a ticketed event. Tickets are on sale now.
1. Panel: The state of documentary filmmaking, now and into the future, Sunday, July 28th 9 p.m Woods Hole Community Hall
This panel, moderated by film distributor Sandy Moore and documentary filmmaker Chico Colvard, will discuss the state of documentary filmmaking, now and into the future. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady and Maria Agui Carter will round out the panel.
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2. Master Class Workshop: Case Study: DIY Distribution of the award-winning documentary film DETROPIA with Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, Tuesday, July 30, 5 p.m. Redfield Auditorium
Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing will offer an in-depth case study of their efforts as DIY distributors of DETROPIA – one of the most successful documentary film DIY theatrical distributions in recent years. They will offer insights and considerations for filmmakers who also seek to do it themselves. LOKI FILMS is a non-fiction film production company founded in 2001 by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. The directing team has been lauded for shining a light on unknown worlds and taking an honest approach to delicate subject matter. In 2007 Ewing and Grady were nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature for “Jesus Camp,” a candid look at Pentecostal children in America. The film received a wide theatrical release by Magnolia Pictures and was broadcast in over 40 countries worldwide, including the A&E Network. Heidi and Rachel recently completed “DETROPIA,” an arresting exploration of Detroit City and its struggle to transform itself into a new and innovative place. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2012, and won the Editing Award for Documentary, enjoyed a successful theatrical release and will broadcast on the Independent Lens series on PBS on May 27, 2013. In 2010 Ewing and Grady premiered “12th & Delaware” in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie, made for HBO, takes a quietly intense look at the raging abortion battle in America. The film won the prestigious Peabody Award in 2011. Ewing and Grady were also part of an all-star team of filmmakers adapting the bestselling book “Freakonomics” into a feature-length documentary, which recently enjoyed a wide theatrical release. Previously, the directing team was nominated for an Emmy for “The Boys of Baraka,” a film about preteens struggling to make it in Baltimore city. The film was winner of the NAACP Image Award and was distributed by ThinkFilm and broadcast on the prestigious POV series on PBS. Grady and Ewing are currently directing “Branded,” a film that is part of ESPN’s groundbreaking “Nine for IX” series that reveals the trials and tribulations of America’s most elite female athletes. In their previous television work LOKI has taken on a vivid array of subjects that include the inner workings of Scientology, the criminally insane, Saudi Arabian teenagers, the dissident movement in Cuba and the effort to rebuild New Orleans. The company’s projects have been seen on a variety of networks including CBS, National Geographic, HBO, A&E, PBS, VH1, Al Jazeera, MTV and CNN. Ewing and Grady have been featured in Time Magazine as innovators of the documentary craft. Both are members of the Directors Guild of America as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They are based in New York City.
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3. Master Class with Filmmaker in Residence Judith Helfand, Thursday, August 1st 11 a.m., Old Woods Hole Fire Station
Judith Helfand is known for her ability to take the dark worlds of chemical exposure, heedless corporate behavior and environmental injustice and make them personal, highly-charged and entertaining. Her new film, COOKED, a work-in-progress, is the subject of her master class. In COOKED, a not so telegenic, oft forgotten, tragic heat wave took place over one hot July week in Chicago in 1995. The final death toll was 739. The final analysis: it was survival by neighborhood. With equal parts naivete and requisite chutzpah, filmmaker Judith Helfand (BLUE VINYL) turns these revelatory lessons into a connect-the-dots quest and radical reframe. What if America’s burgeoning Disaster Preparedness infrastructure, created to combat terrorism and extreme weather, was used to address the equally deadly and parallel slow-motion disaster of systemic poverty and health disparity. COOKED asks questions every city needs to consider: Disaster preparedness for some or community resilience for all?
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4. Master Class Directing Workshop with James Mottern, Thursday, August 1st 1 p.m., Old Woods Hole Fire Station
James Mottern is an award winning documentarian and feature filmmaker. He is a recipient of the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship for Screenwriting sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His critically acclaimed film TRUCKER was called “a powerful debut” by film critic Roger Ebert who gave it four stars, and was listed on Ebert’s top ten indie films of that year. The Los Angeles Times called the film “wonderfully unconventional;” and The Huffington Post called it “a revelation.” James’ other projects include screenplays with Mandate Pictures and Bona Fide Productions; The Jordan Kerner Company; Jennifer Garner’s Vandalia Films; Maven Pictures and several others including. James is a regular guest lecturer on the art of screenwriting and filmmaking and a well-respected script doctor. Born in Providence, RI, raised in Virginia, and later living outside of Boston, James now makes his home in Big Bear, California with his wife and three daughters. Currently, James is in post-production on a stylistic action-crime film he directed set in Boston starring Ben Barnes, Leighton Meester, Harvey Keitel and Toby Jones produced by Bob Salerno (21 Grams;) and is prepping another performance-driven action-thriller set in New England he will direct in September 2013.
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5. Master Class Screenwriting Workshop with Ernest Thompson, Friday, August 2nd, 11 a.m., Old Woods Hole Fire Station
Adapting Life into Film: A hands-on interactive consideration of where great stories come from (they’re everywhere) and how to translate them into comedy and drama. It’s easier than you think! Bring pen, paper and ideas. Okay, electronics and ideas.
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6. Master Class: Community Engagement and Documentary Film with Judith Helfand, Friday, August 2nd, 5 p.m., Old Woods Hole Fire Station
7. Panel: Community Filmmaking with Anthony Brooks, Ernest Thompson and Jay Craven, 7 p.m. Woods Hole Community Hall
WBUR radio host Anthony Brooks will moderate a discussion around the idea of community filmmaking with filmmakers Ernest Thompson and Jay Craven. Thompson’s film “HEAVENLY ANGLE” along with Craven’s film “NORTHERN BORDERS” are two festival examples of feature films made through community participation. This panel will discuss the idea of community in filmmaking and how it is changing the filmmaking experience.
8. Workshop and Demonstration: Go Pro, Saturday, August 3rd, 3 p.m. Redfield Auditorium
You may have heard the proverb that goes something like “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.” Three marine science graduate students from the University of Miami relate these wise words to science and film. Patrick Rynne, Fiona Graham, and Jennah Caster run a project called Waterlust, an experiment aimed at bringing the worlds of marine science, sport, and art together. Their goal is to show that filmmaking is relatively easy, accessible and rewarding and something that all scientists should pursue in communicating their work to the general public. Partnering with the extreme sports camera company GoPro, Waterlust produces beautiful short films using the point-and-shoot Hero line of cameras. Making their Woods Hole Film Festival debut, Patrick and Fiona will discuss the story behind Waterlust, present tips and tricks for aspiring filmmakers, and screen some of their short films.
