ABC Work Placement and Melbourne International Film Festival gave the chances to see documentaries outside the course and here I discovered how documentaries vary in context and content through time. I have always been a fan of post-war documentaries ranging from Anne Frank to Max Manus and also documentaries about sports, travel and music.
During the placement, I got the opportunity to listen to Bruce Hill’s production ‘Blogs challenge Fiji Military Coup’. This radio documentary introduces the issues of bloggers writing about Fiji’s political situation. The problem of getting the information about this got partly solved as the Fiji bloggers decided to make it electronically available on their site. As these bloggers did not want to reveal own voice or identity, the docu maker and the talents came to the agreement of using the interviewed material as long as they were not identified. In this way the ongoing human rights abuses that occurs, resulted into a true radio documentary about Fiji.
MIFF had various documentaries, from all over the world and many of my favorites were Kuta Cowboys (Bali), Bananas (Sweden), Dante’s Inferno (US), 1428 (China), Videocracy (Sweden) and Waste land (Brazil).
Feminism being a word that is strongly loaded, as people do tend approach it differently was explored in a different way in ‘Paradise Cowboys’. This doco clearly takes this into consideration when they present the women coming to Bali, finds the connection to the local guys, easier than with western men. It is the truth and the reality of the tourist women that come here and it is an entertaining documentary.
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films/view?film_id=104058
The docu Bananas exploits the social and political issues of banana production. Dole Food Company using a banned pesticide, caused serious health issues and death amongst its workers. This documentary represents the firs time agricultural workers from third world countries were heard in US courts. It is the juxtaposition segments, the shot construction and the choice of talents this docu did that makes it a strong one.
http://www.bananasthemovie.com/
One night as I was watching telly this woman Stacie Currie appeared on screen. She had had her first kid aged 15, and through her experince with her hum, men and the society, she became a young mum helper and fundraiser. I think documentaries like these, that are biographies demonstrates new way of beings. By making documentaries like these, I think both Stacie Currie and Ben Cousins as filmmakers shares the ability to produce documentaries that are not just about themselves, but social issues that occurs in Melbourne and also Australia today that often remains scuffed under the carpet and not talked about.
I think issues like these are those that gain attention, and one last example of this is Stieg Larson’s Millenium Triology. Say if The Girl with the Dragon tattoo (men who hate women) and the two other crime novels as well, were a Swedish documentary on the abuse of women’s rights. Even though the first book’s movie is all what the book is about, imagine what it would be like if the characters were all real and it was made in a documentary interviewing style with the film footages used from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlF-hk3IJQE
The scenarios would have been really really great and at the same time some would be absolutely revolting. As the audience would experience it in real time, real life and with the real people, I think this movie would have an even grater impact than that it has already. One would have to see how and why men hate and abuse women.
When looking on documentaries beyond the course I think these documentaries stand out, so much in comparison to what is shown in TV2 basically because their form varies in looseness from one place in the world to another. They are the results of political, economical and social constructed ideas, reflecting on the world today, and they also show the use of newer technology. Together they all show the truth of what is being documented
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