Moderator: Patricia Aufderheide, American University Professor
Presenters:
Official Description:
Documentary filmmakers have the power to shape narratives that impact the lives of the people and communities they portray. This workshop will focus on navigating that power using ethical values to drive the process. This workshop is presented in partnership with Working Films.
Key Takeaways:
Currently working on creating a draft framework for ethical and accountable filmmaking that will be shared for feedback. The desire is to help filmmakers better navigate questions on the meaning of true consent and accountability to those they make films about. Journalist already work with these kinds of guidelines. Most filmmakers think deeply about ethical questions, but don’t yet have such a framework to fall back on.
Recommendations in the framework include:
Acknowledge your power (to shape and interpret stories – in a way that challenges instead of reinforcing stereotypes). Make efforts to understand the biases you carry.
Respect the dignity and agency of people in your film. Recognize the power dynamics that exist in your lives and the work, especially if you are a white filmmaker working in a marginalized community.
Treat your audience with dignity and respect (not just your protagonists). Respect their intelligence, and the fact they have their own stories and expertise. Are you including images that are traumatizing, or reinforcing of stereotypes?
Natalie Bullock Brown spoke about how seeing Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied in college changed her life and inspired her to tell non-fiction stories.
Additional Resources:
Sign up to stay updated on efforts to further develop and expand their praxis for ethical nonfiction filmmaking
Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work from American University (2011 study)
A Call for Accountability - an essay written by Natalie Bullock-Brown and Sonya Childress is an outgrowth of this effort to flesh out the need for an ethical, accountable filmmaking framework
StoryShift website - with useful videos and framing language
A Reckoning - essay by Sonya Childress