Documentary Filmmaking Seminar

Reviewed by Anna Acuna. Viewed at the 2016 Santa Barbara Film Festival. 

The mood in the room for the documentary filmmaker talk was heavy. Two of the three films focused on topics surrounding suicide, and the other about rehabilitation of abused dogs. It is not uncommon for documentaries to be about dark topics, but I found it interesting that two of the films, from two different countries were about the military and suicide. Trauma seemed to be the main theme of the talk.

Assaf Benitt was studying to become a religious figure, a rabbi, when he experienced a traumatic life event. The suicide of a close colleague, as well as his brother brought him to question the management of depression within his faith. His film, Against Your Will is an exploration of suicide within the Israeli military, and the controversy surrounding the topic in Israel. According to Benitt, there is no discussion of depression within the educational and religious institutions of Judaism, in his country of Israel. The topic of suicide is seen as taboo there, and the family who spoke out about their son’s suicide was condemned by their community for speaking outwardly. Benitt faced much adversity trying to put out his film, but overall he has made an impact. The film is creating awareness about suicide prevention in a country that did not have a platform to speak of it before, and creating the social rift needed to stop tragedy from striking in the future.

Thank You for Your Service was about the suicide crisis among veterans. The director, Tom Donahue, visited 54 cities and conducted 246 interviews in his search. He voiced the fact that it was hard to find veterans who believed that the public wanted their stories to be told. As well, the veterans had massive PTSD, so telling their war stories was difficult and heartbreaking for many of them. Tom Donahue explained the suicide epidemic as a post-war “national reset” that happens after every war. There is no standardized mental treatment for veterans, and this is a huge part of the issue. His interviews with important military figures were in hopes that it would inspire some change in the way the government, as well as the people of America deal with our veterans post-war.

Darcy Dennett’s film, The Champions, was a spotlight of the dogs rescued from Michael Vicks horrendous 2007 dogfighting ring. Dennett intended the film to be up-lifting. She believes their story of fighting against the odds and surviving, quite literally and figuratively is inspiring for animal activists in training. Dennett talked about the difficulties they faced while attempting to film the dogs, because of their highly traumatic past.

The advice given by these filmmakers about how to promote a documentary film was important. Their main points were to get the film out to ten major cities, show it to the target group first and foremost, and showing it to people who can spread the word. They also included that it is important for a documentary film to have a specific course of action that it suggests, as well as emotional appeal.