Soledad O’Brien Joins Nelson George, Michael Skolnik and Others for Sundance Doc Panel on Social Jus
- Nadine Matthews
- May 10, 2016
- 4 min read
L to R, President AMC Networks Josh Sapan, Adam Foss, Michael Skolnik, Rachel Sklar, Soledad O'Brien, Gina Belafonte, Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz
On May 17th, SundanceNow Doc Club’s short film collection Take 5: Justice in America went live on take5.docclub.com. Consisting of five five minute films, each collection in the series will be united around different themes. This inaugural group of films focuses on questions of social justice including the bail reform, voter rights, gun control, the working poor, and displacement due to gentrification. The Take 5 films are available for free to the general public as well as to subscribers of Sundance Doc Club. As to the decision to create a series based purely on short-form content, Marcus Lee, General Manager of SundanceNow Doc Club states, “These are the new op-eds, if you think about in recent history where were people’s opinions affected the most? What moved the masses? It used to be the 6 o’clock news or 60 Minutes or Time Magazine and nowadays the most influential things tend to be things that can go viral. That just seems to be the way to influence people. We’re not trying to solve any of these problems obviously in five minutes we just want to bring attention to them and we felt like in the five minute format we could open more people’s eyes. If you go to take5.docclub.com, we have a list of organizations, other videos, good articles that other people have written about these topics. This is just the doorway and we want people to read more, learn more, become interested in these topics.”
Last week, AMC Networks hosted a luncheon and discussion panel at the Paley Center for Media in New York City to mark the beginning of the series. The panel discussion was moderated by celebrated journalist and producer Soledad O’Brien. Luncheon attendees included the filmmakers as well as those who appeared in the films and people interested in the issues brought up in the films such as actor Malik Yoba. Panelists included Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, actress and activist Gina Belafonte, blogger and commentator Rachel Sklar, juvenile justice advocate Adam Foss, and filmmaker and President of Russell Simmons’ globalgrind.com Michael Skolnik. Asked about the particular challenge for filmmakers creating a documentary to not just raise awareness but also spur action from the viewer Skolnik shared that, “You hope when you make a film that they are a conversation starter. You hope when [people] watch films like these they engage in conversation with those at home, at work, in their families. I think these films and these topics we all need to talk about. You hope that it leads to conversation which then leads to more inquiry and more discovery on the issues.”
Filmmaker Nelson George (A Ballerina’s Tale), made one of the Take 5: Justice in America films. Titled Degentrify America, it chronicles one woman’s efforts to fight the forces of gentrification in Crown Heights Brooklyn. To the same question about the challenges of making a film intended to inspire action he replied that it is about being aware that “Most people are not gonna do anything. All it takes is a small group of people. It is all about tapping into the people who will be awake and who will care.” As a longtime filmmaker, George is used to producing full-length films. He was asked about the advantages of creating short-form content which the public is becoming increasingly comfortable with and in many cases, have a preference for. He stated that, “Definitely the five minutes is a strength. It’s just very hard to take a complicated idea like gentrification and get it all in there but you focus on the human interest part of it which I did with Donna and her group in Crown Heights. It is hopefully connecting them to other people like them.”
The panel moderator was award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien who is herself noted for her work around issues of great human interest such as race in America. “I think we started the panel with a rhetorical question about whether or not five minutes can change the world and I think you can see from the clips that you can because you are able to tackle these big issues that are very resonant. We are not explaining to people something they don’t already know. They see the issue but they may not have been able to connect the dots so there is no question, to me, that is a very good small way to really inform people. It can travel, it can move on a lot of platforms, it is not committing an hour to a complicated piece. It is a really tiny nugget that allows people to understand the basis of certain kinds of activism.”
Take 5: Justice in America is comprised of five 5-minute documentaries: A Hug from Paul Ryan (filmmakers Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce) about the working poor, Limbo (filmmaker Razan Ghalayini) about bail regulation, The New Fight for Voting Rights (filmmaker Rachel Lears), Who Will Survive America (filmmaker Sheldon Candis) about gun control, and Degentrify America (filmmaker Nelson George).The films are now online at take5.docclub.com.
Kommentarer